The Infrabel Academy – An interactive map for the knowledge-hungry

Infrabel launched a state-of-the-art railway training centre in 2021. Spanning over 8,800 square metres, this new facility boasts advanced equipment, practical simulation areas, and a wide range of theoretical classes.
They came to us for help to make this vast learning space and the numerous resources on offer accessible to their diverse audiences.

The Academy needed a remotely accessible, interactive entry point that offers individual learning paths.
How would  Infrabel ensure each user has access to the resources they need and create an experience that is both intuitive and engaging within such a large space?
How to enable everyone to explore the Academy according to their unique profile and pace?

Cartoonbase collaborated with Infrabel to put the new Academy on the map, literally and figuratively. We combined our expertise in e-learning with Infrabel’s vision to create an intuitive tool that makes navigating complex learning content easy.

An interactive visual map

An interactive map is an e-learning solution that helps users engage with digital experiences through a visual, easy-to-navigate interface.

How interactive maps help us learn and explore

• Enhance engagement: Visually appealing and interactive elements capture attention and maintain interest.
• Facilitate active learning: Users explore and interact with the map, becoming active participants in their learning process.
• Provide contextual understanding: Maps illustrate relationships between different parts, aiding in spatial and contextual comprehension.
• Offer personalised learning paths: Users navigate at their own pace, tailoring their experience to their needs.
• Support multimodal learning: Integrating text, images, audio, and video provides different entry points in the content and increases motivation to learn. 

The map proved highly successful in helping Infrabel match its outstanding learning offering to their eager audiences.

Less is more: Users get a full view of the Academy’s features while avoiding information overload. The content is made accessible through a straightforward navigation. The map also features a ‘guided tour’ option.

Like being there: Short video snippets connect the abstract map to reality, highlighting the building and its impressive surroundings, including the tracks running through it. Users easily recognise themselves, their work and concrete daily challenges on the map and thereby intuitively identify content that’s most useful to them personally.

An adventure: Learning is fun! Playful elements capture visitors’ attention and prompt them to click and explore.

Can you spot the cow?

We have been collaborating with Infrabel for multiple years, developing an illustration system used externally on buildings, correspondence and for their communication. Internally, we leveraged it with their teams to solve problems with creative solutions such as this very project,  e-learning modules on specific topics, serious games to facilitate the collaboration between departments …