Ooklas

Ooklas is an open-source software platform designed for collaborative urban-planning simulations and policy testing. It provides a common data model, a scenario engine, and a visualization layer to support multi-stakeholder decision making. The platform aims to enable planners, researchers, and community groups to model how new policies affect transportation, housing affordability, land use, and environmental outcomes.

Architecture and features: Ooklas employs a modular architecture centered on a core simulation engine. Plug-ins implement domain-specific subsystems such as traffic modeling, land-use zoning, and energy consumption. The platform supports GIS data import, time-step simulations, and 3D visualization in a web browser. Data interchange follows a documented JSON-based schema and supports REST and GraphQL APIs for integration with external tools. A cloud-based collaboration layer allows multiple users to edit scenarios, annotate assumptions, and track changes.

History and development: Developed by the Ooklas Alliance, a consortium of universities, city agencies, and civic organizations, the project began in 2014 and released its first stable version in 2016. Governance is carried out by a non-profit foundation that maintains core software and a public roadmap. The ecosystem includes official plug-ins and community extensions.

Impact and reception: Ooklas has been adopted by several municipalities for pilot projects related to congestion pricing, transit-oriented development, and climate-resilience planning. Supporters emphasize openness, reproducibility, and the ability to compare policies across contexts. Critics note the learning curve, data-privacy considerations, and the need for high-quality input data to produce reliable results.

See also: urban planning software, scenario planning, open data initiatives.