Methodology

What this is about

navigator.berlin collects 56 public Berlin geodata sets and shows the values that apply to each address. Served statically, without cookies, without login, without trackers.

The idea: make data readable without condensing it into a “residential score”. Neighbourhood statistics stay neighbourhood statistics. What applies at an address appears in the inspector. Where something does not apply, we say so.

Data architecture

In the build step we fetch every layer from its source, reproject to EPSG:4326, simplify the geometry with mapshaper and write the hash plus the data update date into the manifest. At runtime a point-in-polygon lookup returns the applicable values per address. No database, no API call to the server.

Aggregation levels

Not every value is address-exact. Noise and air come from planning-area-level statistics (LOR planning area, 542 polygons). Standard land values attach to the city block. Anyone who reads a noise value in the inspector sees the mean for the whole planning area, not their own bedroom.

Address-exact

Point geocode + point layers (Stolpersteine, daycare centres, public transport stops)

LOR planning area (542)

Noise, air, bioclimate, green space provision, environmental justice, residential areas 2024

Bezirk (12) and locality (96)

Administrative master data

Block aggregate

Standard land values, climate PET, Milieuschutz, school catchment areas

Point OSM

Cycling network, bicycle streets, public transport stations, Stolpersteine, drinking fountains

Map display

The map shows at most two value maps at the same time, with fixed roles: the first fills the area, the second appears as graduated square symbols, one square per planning area, whose size shows the level. A third value layer automatically replaces the oldest. In the legend you can swap the roles with a click; the setting is carried over into shared links.

Each score dimension has its own colour (Quiet & air blue, Mobility violet, Local amenities ochre, Tenant protection teal, Culture berry; green belongs to the overall score and Green & heat). Within each colour: light = low level, dark = high level. The shape language separates meanings: squares stand for aggregated area values, round markers and pins for specific places. Area layers such as Milieuschutz or cold air corridors only say “this applies here”, sit underneath as areas and do not count towards the two-map limit.

The size gradation of the symbols carries the information even with red-green colour vision deficiency, where hues can converge. We measured the distinguishability of the colour combinations with simulated colour vision deficiency, not estimated it.

What “Kiez” means here

In everyday speech a Kiez is a felt neighbourhood, defined by its residents, without a fixed boundary. On navigator.berlin, “Kiez” instead means an official unit: the LOR Bezirksregion (lifeworld-oriented spaces, LOR-BZR, as of 2021), 143 in total.

We use the LOR Bezirksregion because only it has a clear, statistically backed boundary that all data hangs on. Your felt Kiez can be smaller or span several Bezirksregionen. The values on a Kiez page apply to the LOR-BZR, not to a single street.

Aggregate indices

The environment & infrastructure score combines five dimensions per planning area: Quiet & air, Green & heat, Mobility, Local amenities (daycare centres, schools, hospitals, playgrounds) and Tenant protection (Milieuschutz areas). Each dimension stays separately available in the inspector and as its own map layer. Five times 20 percent weight. An overall layer aggregates them as a mean.

The score only measures quantities with an unambiguous better direction for residents. It does not rate social structure: a Kiez with low social status does not live “worse”. Affordability also stays out: contested and without reliable address-level data.

There is no single “Berlin score”. Aggregation to one number would stigmatise and obscure individual priorities. Someone looking for a place for a family weights differently from someone sensitive to heat.

Full methodology: Kiez score

MSS 2025 as neutral context

The Monitoring Soziale Stadtentwicklung (social urban development monitoring) of the Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing provides an overall index per planning area, made up of status (income, employment, education) and dynamics (change). Since the score reorganisation it no longer feeds into the score. We show it as a neutral context layer, only the aggregate value, not the individual indicators such as unemployment rate or rate of welfare receipt. Individual values would be sharper and more stigmatising at address level.

Low status does not mean “bad Kiez”. The level reflects structural differences, not housing quality. Choropleth colours are kept neutral, no red-green. Source: SenStadt MSS 2025, licence dl-de/zero-2-0.

Election data

Bundestag, Berlin House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus) and District Assembly (BVV) elections since 2011 with aggregates at four levels: polling district, Kiez (LOR Bezirksregion), Bezirk and Berlin overall. Sources are the Federal Election Commissioner (Bundeswahlleiterin, BTW) and the Statistics Office Berlin-Brandenburg (Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg, AGH + BVV). Values describe vote shares, not an assessment.

We document special cases transparently: postal-vote groups as the smallest map level (Kiez value as an estimate), repeat elections 2023 with a reference to the original election, coverage gaps before 2017 without polling district geometry.

Full methodology: Election data · All elections individually

Cool places

The Cool places layer shows places to cool down in hot weather. The cool score from 1 to 5 follows type and construction: 5 very cold (ice rink), 4 air-conditioned or by the water, 3 cool solid building such as a library or museum, below that less cool. Geometry and base tags come from OpenStreetMap (ODbL 1.0, attribution), supplemented by an editorial navigator.berlin enrichment: cool score, air conditioning and summer availability.

Air conditioning is rarely verifiable: only 29 of 659 places have a verified AC status, the rest are marked probable or unknown. The AC note is an indication, not a promise. An offer, not a substitute for authorities, no legal right of access.

Sources and licences

Coverage strategy

If a layer delivers no value for an address, we state the reason.

no-coverage

Dataset not available for this address.

outdated

Geodataset older than 5 years.

seasonal

Layer active only in season (drinking fountains May to October).

coverage-out-of-scope

Address outside the spatial scope.

out-of-concept

Layer conceptually not applicable (rent index layer in a commercial location).

What we leave out

• Cookies, trackers, user accounts

  No browser identification. Bookmarks live in LocalStorage.

• Rent prices

  We state no €/m². The official value comes from mietspiegel.berlin.de.

• Personal data

  No profile, no behavioural analysis, no login requirement.

• Algorithmically generated layer texts

  We write layer descriptions by hand. No LLM output for personal biographies.

• City-wide single score

  There is one overall value per Kiez, but no single number for the whole of Berlin. Personal priorities weight things differently anyway.

• Advertising, partner tracking, A/B tests

  No commercial model.

Editorial responsibility

We show Stolpersteine as memorial markers. We neither count nor rate them. Personal biographies belong to the primary source stolpersteine-berlin.de.

navigator.berlin states no rent price and gives no legal advice. The statutory rent index by residential area (Wohnlagen-Mietspiegel) comes from mietspiegel.berlin.de.

Aggregated values are neighbourhood means, not properties of a flat. We deliberately forgo a “Berlin score” and show no Bezirk rankings.

We write layer texts by hand. No layer content is summarised by LLM, no personal biography generated.

Data status

Sorted alphabetically by layer name, not a ranking by recency.

Sources and licences

Most layers are under dl-de/zero-2-0 or dl-de/by-2-0. OSM-based layers (Stolpersteine, public transport, drinking fountains, cycling) are under ODbL 1.0 with attribution to OpenStreetMap contributors.

Full list on the licences page

Feedback

Methodology correction, data error or layer suggestion: by email.

hey@navigator.berlin