Briefing 2025

Digitization of the process of creating and revising school route plans.

AUVA is looking for bright minds to transform school route maps from an analog process into a digital, responsive solution – from creation and revision to distribution. The goal is a proof of concept or prototype, supported by expert workshops, to create real impact on the safety of thousands of first-graders.

Initial situation

As the statutory accident insurance provider for schoolchildren and students, the Austrian Workers' Compensation Board (AUVA) works with the Austrian Road Safety Board (KFV) to provide school route maps. These are designed to offer concrete help and support to parents and children in choosing the safest route to school and to motivate them to practice it. These handy maps, which show the respective school environment, indicate safe footpaths to school, recommended crossing points, and dangerous areas that children should avoid.

The school route maps are currently distributed in sufficient numbers in printed form to first graders at the beginning of the school year via elementary schools or to parents when they enroll their children in school, and are intended to support parents in training their children on the way to school. In addition, the school route maps can be downloaded as PDF files at www.schulwegplan.at.

Compiling the content of a school route map involves a lot of “manual work”: the local conditions are surveyed, documented, and assessed by a commission of experts (traffic safety experts from the KFV, law enforcement, road and school authorities, etc.). Optimization measures are identified and, if possible, implemented promptly. In this way, each school route map is individually adapted to the local conditions.

The on-site inspection, including the necessary preliminary and follow-up work in terms of traffic engineering, is the core of the process and is not called into question. Currently, however, the rest of the process is only marginally supported by digital technology. This leads us to our challenge.

Our Challenge

We are looking for a solution that digitizes the process of creating, revising, and distributing school route maps as comprehensively as possible or supports it with digital tools.

The starting point here could be the school operator or municipality expressing interest in having a school route map created. This should be immediately followed by a guided check that compares the interested party's information with the existing criteria for “school route map eligibility.”

In any case, the core elements are publishing and digital provision. The solution we are looking for should (at least) be able to access the content of the existing PDF versions of school route maps and automatically display it on (mobile) screen devices in a responsive design based on a style guide provided. This can be done in a browser or in an app created specifically for this purpose.

In addition, the creation of printable PDF documents in a specified layout is desirable. The desired solution should be able to automatically take changes to this layout into account.

During the term of the #IMM2025/26 program, a proof of concept and, ideally, a working prototype or similar should be created that meets the above requirements.

Supplementary materials

Relevant photos, illustrations, and school route maps available for download:

The Prospects

  • Support during the term: We provide support in the form of expert know-how through meetings and workshops with the experts who create and design school route maps. This is intended to ensure the necessary flow of information in both directions, so that the necessary school route map know-how is provided at the outset and feedback on implementation ideas can be given subsequently.

  • Award ceremony at the closing event: The best solution, selected by a jury of experts, will receive a symbolic thank you from us at the closing event in the form of an opportunity to present the solution in the AUVA safety magazine “Alle! Achtung!” (published by AUVA, circulation 150,000 copies, 6 times a year, www.alle-achtung.at).

  • Possible long-term prospects: In principle, if the candidate is suitable and a suitable position is available, employment at AUVA (e.g., in the ICT department) is conceivable.

Dates and Processes

  • Starting point: Kick-off workshop with all interested parties and the AUVA-KFV team of experts. The task will be discussed in detail once again, expectations, possibilities, and interests will be clarified, and initial concrete ideas for solutions may also be discussed. Based on this, a simple project definition will be created, with rough objectives, a schedule for individual meetings and, if necessary, group meetings, workshops, etc.

  • During the project: Recurring meetings according to the above schedule with a main contact person in person at the AUVA location or via Teams. Questions and ongoing communication are of course also possible outside of the fixed schedule. If necessary (e.g., presentation of interim results), further workshops can be organized.

  • Dates: The schedule and milestones are to be developed and agreed upon jointly at the kick-off workshop – no specifications at this time.

Our Call to Participate

Contribute your skills to make the way to school safer! Together with the maker community, we want to develop a tool that brings school route plans from analog to digital – open source, voluntary, and with a real impact for thousands of school beginners!

Your contact person

DI Klaus Wittig
AUVA
Deputy Head of Prevention
Head of the Safety Testing Centre (STP)
LinkedIn

Mag. Joachim Raum
AUVA
Expert in Safety and Health in Educational Institutions
LinkedIn

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About us

AUVA is part of the Austrian social security system and is responsible for accident insurance for 1.4 million kindergarten children, schoolchildren, and students, as well as 3.3 million working people.

But we are not only there for you when an accident happens, we are there before that, so that it doesn't come to that in the first place! That's why prevention is not only our legal mandate, but also our daily practice, driven by conviction!

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