QField Helps Monitor 20,000
WWII Fortifications Across Germany

Along Germany’s western border, volunteers are using QField and QFieldCloud to map and monitor thousands of World War II fortifications – protecting public safety, preserving history, and making democracy tangible for a new generation.

The Challenge

Stretching 600 kilometers along Germany’s western border lies a vast network of concrete bunkers and fortifications built in the 1930s and 40s. Known as the Siegfried Line (or Westwall in Germany), this defensive system comprises approximately 20,000 distinct structures, half of which still exist in some form today.

For decades after WWII, these structures were systematically destroyed or buried. But attitudes have changed. Today, they’re protected as historical monuments, and volunteers working with German federal monument services are documenting, monitoring, and securing them before they deteriorate further or pose safety risks.

Patrice Wijnands, a geomaticist and volunteer coordinator, has been mapping these fortifications for 30 years. Five years ago, he discovered QField, and it transformed how this massive conservation effort operates.

The fortifications present unique challenges. Many were filled with sand in the decades following the war. Now, that sand is settling and draining away, creating new gaps and hazards.

“The sands with which these bunkers had been filled up is now filling in and it opens new gaps, new holes in the surface. That is especially the thing we are tackling because we not only map these objects, we also get back to them every few years.”

The scale is immense: tracking safety risks, determining protective measures, and monitoring changes across a zone 600 kilometers long and up to 30 kilometers wide. Some structures near populated areas require fencing. Others in remote woodland need only warning signs. The key is knowing which is which, and tracking how conditions evolve.

From Paper Maps to Digital Collaboration

For 15 years, volunteers mapped using paper maps, each person working on their own island. Patrice would receive photocopied maps and Excel spreadsheets, spending hours trying to reconcile different symbologies.

“What does that mean when they made a cross on the map? How does that fit with their Excel sheet that they maybe sent me in 2005?”

Patrice began using specialized GIS software in 2010, but found it difficult to share projects. In 2017, he started experimenting with QGIS. Then in 2019, he discovered QField.

“I started using QField in 2019 and I felt that this was the state of the art after the tools I used before.”

Scaling Up with QFieldCloud

Within six months, Patrice began distributing QField projects to other volunteers. But as the network grew—especially during COVID-19—manually distributing projects became unsustainable. Then QFieldCloud arrived, solving the scalability problem completely.

“I just create these projects. I put them onto the cloud. People can gather them. They go into the field. The only thing I need to explain to them is how to map, what data are to be collected. They learn that within a few minutes. They upload these data and synchronize again with the QField cloud. And I can see these data in the next minutes again already here on my desktop.”

The project by numbers:

• 600 kilometers: Length of the fortification zone
• 20,000 objects: Total fortifications mapped today
• Scalable to 100+ volunteers: Thanks to QFieldCloud

Keeping It Simple

Volunteers work with point data, adding observations to a monitoring layer rather than editing the base map. This eliminates GPS accuracy issues—critical when working under forest canopy where positioning might be off by 50 meters.

“Every person visiting an object adds a point. That means if next year somebody else is getting there, he adds a new point.They only add their observation and the interpretation is something for me and for the people post-processing this data later on.”

The system captures photographs, condition assessments, and observations about changes since the last visit. Because volunteers often work in areas with poor mobile coverage, Patrice includes offline maps and advises volunteers to synchronize at home.

Learning QField: Minutes, Not Months

New volunteers become productive quickly. Patrice typically provides initial training through a single online or face-to-face session, and volunteers are mapping independently within weeks.

“I have seen people going into this without even having a GIS system before and they work with this after a few weeks as if they have never done anything else before. It does not need some software in which you need to spend a lot of time to learn it. That’s my job. And all the people outside in the field, they don’t need to understand that in that depth.”

This ease of adoption means Patrice can focus volunteers on what matters: understanding the history and significance of what they’re documenting.

Data That Serves Multiple Purposes

The database serves various stakeholders with different needs. Some structures can be made public for educational purposes. Others must remain confidential due to safety concerns, property rights, or ecological considerations.

Federal monument agencies receive data they need. Property owners get information about structures on their land. Ecologists access data about habitat. And the public gains access to appropriate historical information.

The system is also adaptable. Patrice has successfully tested the data model on other historical fortifications, demonstrating the approach could be applied to different types of monuments.

The Difference Open Source Makes

For Patrice, the open-source nature of QGIS and QField proved essential. Unlike proprietary alternatives he’d used previously, these tools could be freely distributed without licensing concerns.

“With QGIS there came the add-ins which made it powerful out of the box. You did not need any licenses. This is open source, it is easily distributable, everybody can download it and install it on their mobile device.”

When Patrice needed QFieldCloud access, he contacted OPENGIS.ch. The response was immediate and supportive — the only request was that the project link back to OPENGIS.ch on their webpage.

“I responded with creating a complete page about using this software. It’s the best thing I can do also for OPENGIS.ch in promoting their software and promoting this cloud service.”

More Than Just Mapping

For Patrice and the volunteers, the project serves purposes beyond safety and historical preservation. These tangible remnants of the Nazi era provide opportunities for communities to engage with history in meaningful ways.

“It is also a contribution to maintaining democracy. Here along the western border, everybody can get in touch with that history with concrete remnants around their own village.”

When history is local—visible in the woods near home rather than distant and abstract, it becomes personal. People become curious about their own community’s past.

“The people understand that it is a part of their identity and they are willing to view it also as a part of identity even if it has a dark history. It’s not my fault but it is my responsibility for maintaining it.”

Looking Ahead

What once required Patrice to manually process data from each person now scales effortlessly across dozens of contributors spread across hundreds of kilometers.

“I can in that way suit not 10 people, it can be 20, it can be 50, it can be 100. It doesn’t matter. That makes the process scalable.”

Technology hasn’t just made the work more efficient, it’s made an entire category of conservation and historical preservation possible that simply wouldn’t exist otherwise.

“Now I can just give someone a project of all objects in 20 kilometers around their home. We can collect data in a standardized way. You end up with a standardized database that you can start to query, that you can start to use for interesting analysis.”

About the Project:

The West Wall (Siegfried Line) fortification mapping project is coordinated by volunteer monument preservation groups working alongside German federal monument services, documenting and monitoring approximately 10,000 remaining WWII-era fortifications across a 600-kilometer zone along Germany’s western border.

📷 Photos taken by Chad Cottle