The Nature Agency which is part of the The Danish Ministry of Environment of Denmark manages public forests and nature areas with the purpose of optimizing the conditions of outdoor life.
In partnership with Fellowmind and Compent, the Nature Agency relaunched Udinaturen.dk in the Spring of 2020. With a new version of the site, the Nature Agency makes it easy for everyone to navigate and explore Danish nature.
Navigation In the Open
With the new version of Udinaturen.dk, the Nature Agency offers a user-friendly and smart tool that makes it possible to explore Danish nature areas online via computers and phones. The site gives access to numerous guides via a digital map that holds information about exciting hiking, biking, riding and sailing routes, parking lots, playgrounds, toilets, lakes, beaches, swimming areas, shelters and other outdoor attractions. In addition to finding inspiration and planning new outdoor experiences, users can search through filters which makes it easy to identify individually attractive destinations. Through the map, users can identify unknown destinations in their own neighborhoods and open their eyes to new exciting destinations and places to visit in other parts of Denmark.
A Common Outdoor Database
Udinaturen.dk is based on a common outdoor database where employees of the state and municipalities can upload information about nature offers and attractions across the country. By uploading information, the actors help everybody get the maximum value and joy out of Danish nature everywhere in Denmark.
WCAG - Accessibility Requirements
As the Nature Agency is a public institution, Udinaturen.dk complies with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG, Level AA) for web and phone. Consequently, the website is developed to be easy to access and extremely user-friendly for everybody, including people with disabilities.
Collaboration
The new version of Udinaturen.dk takes its point of departure in tender documents, meaning that it represents a series of rather strict requirements. It was important for the Nature Agency to relaunch Udinaturen.dk within a short period of time as the project began during a period of COVID-19 lockdown which triggered a need for the population to spend more time outside and benefit from new experiences in the Danish nature. Via an agile development process and full dedication to meeting the requirements with the best possible solution, Compent and the Nature Agency managed to launch the portal in time for the deadline.
A Portal that Creates Change
With the relaunch of Udinaturen.dk, Danish nature offers are made visible and brought close to people who can explore a plethora of attractive destinations that have traditionally been hard to find. Already after the first statistical report from the new Udinaturen.dk, the number of site visitors has doubled from the previous year, giving the impression that the portal has brought the Danish Nature Agency one step closer to its goal of bringing the population closer to nature.