Written by Aljan Scholtens on 9 April 2024

You are on Terschelling, cycling through beautiful landscapes on your way to Oerol. Then you realize you've seen this forest path before. You are lost. Luckily, the Wolf Maps interactive map is right in your pocket.

Carola Poleij - Oerol Festival
Oerol, a festival full of theatre, music, dance, and storytelling at unique locations in Terschelling's nature. Navigating the extensive program and the island is a challenge. Wolf Maps makes this easier.

One of the largest festivals in the Netherlands, at a glance

Oerol may be one of the largest festivals in the Netherlands. The festival area is basically all of Terschelling. Every year, around 50,000 people of all generations come together for art, culture, and nature, across about 60 locations for street theatre, music, visual arts, storytelling, and talks.

A large event creates challenges. With so many locations, how do visitors easily get from A to the next performance? A website helps, but at the moment of truth it often falls short.

An interactive digital map fits in your pocket. One map with practical tags and categories that you can also easily share with friends.

From idea to interactive map

Today Oerol’s interactive map is used by tens of thousands of visitors each year and has reached nearly one million views in total. It all started with Carola’s compact wish list - she is Head of Marketing and Communications at Oerol Festival.

The map had to be user-friendly: “We tried several maps, but many felt unintuitive, so I would not use them for Oerol.” Wolf Maps is easy to use and maintain.
The map had to match Oerol’s brand.
Oerol did not want to depend on an app: “Downloading an app takes time. We want visitors to use our map quickly and easily.”

Say no more. Based on our interactive map vision, we made a plan that matched Oerol’s needs. We answered questions like: where should visitors go, and where not? What helps visitors reach the right location? We used our most intuitive features in the design.

Jeroen Cremer
What an amazing map you made for Oerol, thank you! Super easy for finding acts on the island, great filters (what is free and what requires tickets?), and really useful functionality.

Time for action

Creating an account and map was quick. Then we moved step by step toward a visitor-friendly Oerol map.

Step 1: We added Oerol’s brand elements first: logo, header image, and brand colors. A natural visual style that now matches the interactive map and improves recognition.
Step 2: We created categories before adding actual locations. This gives a strong overview of map structure. Oerol now uses categories by program type (street theatre, performance, expo, talk) and by service type (shop, tourist info, service point, festival hub).
Step 3: Technical step: with the developer, we planned how to import all acts from the website database. Result: a richly filled map in no time.
Step 4: Carola and colleagues then expanded content themselves, adding media, new places, tags, info points, and richer program details.
Step 5: Since launch, the map has been available on kaart.oerol.nl, so visitors and editors can access and use it instantly.

Let’s talk about functionality

Both Oerol and Wolf Maps love limitless possibilities around nature, inspiration, and discovery. We want Oerol visitors to feel exactly that. A few key features and benefits:

Find your act

We keep improving the map experience. In the search field, visitors can now search directly by act, location, address, and place name. Very practical when you are on the island and need to find the next show quickly.

Make busy locations easier to discover

Some places - like West-Terschelling and Midsland - are busier during Oerol. More acts, more things to do. That is why we use pin stacks to show concentration in one glance. Click a pin or zoom in to discover more.

Positive impact on nature

Oerol embraces nature and sustainable cultural experiences. We are proud that, thanks to Wolf Maps, printed bike maps were reduced by 30%.

Carola Poleij - Oerol Festival
Tim and Aljan from Wolf Maps were there before, during, and after the festival to optimize user experience. Important detail: the print run of our paper bike map dropped drastically thanks to the digital map.

Wolf Maps as the interactive festival map

Everything you visualize upfront comes to life through the interactive festival map. One digital map where we create an innovative, creative interplay between program and visitor experience - for visitors, sponsors, and all other stakeholders.