RIWANEXIS
RIWANEXIS is an AI query assistant built into RIWA's municipal web GIS. German local authorities ask questions in plain language and receive traceable answers drawn from every module, without learning a query syntax or sitting through training first.
What is RIWANEXIS?
RIWANEXIS is the artificial-intelligence layer of the RIWA GIS-Zentrum, the browser-based geographic information system that RIWA GmbH sells to German municipalities. RIWA describes it as the AI for your municipal processes, and its job is narrow and practical: to remove the query language that normally stands between a council employee and the data on the map.
The user types a question the way they would ask a colleague. The AI interprets it and translates it into a structured query plan, which is then executed across modules and across specialist domains. RIWA publishes four sample questions that show the intended range: which development plans exist in XPlan-compliant form; show me parcels in predominantly agricultural use that border a watercourse; which trees were inspected this year and stand within five metres of a water pipe; show me all trees with inspections due in the second quarter of 2026. Each of those would normally require a specialist to build a multi-table spatial query by hand.
Two audiences are addressed explicitly. Staff without GIS experience reach the information they need without a query syntax; GIS specialists gain speed and a marked simplification of complex research. RIWA states the assistant is usable straight away, without specialist queries or training.
The security position is stated in six points: operation and processing exclusively in Germany; no transfer of specialist data to external systems; processing limited to the user's request and the data structure; full GDPR compliance; transparency and traceability of every query; and data sovereignty and control resting entirely with the municipality. A separate GDPR information sheet adds that search terms are kept for thirty days, decoupled from account and IP address, and that the AI models are not trained on them.
RIWANEXIS is young. It was shown publicly as a new AI-supported query assistant at the KOMMUNALE trade fair in 2025, and its page describes the next step as an agentic AI able to plan and carry out multi-step GIS tasks on its own. The platform underneath it is not young: the GIS-Zentrum carries more than 300 modules and apps and is used by over 1,500 customers and 20,000 users.
What it does
- Answer a question asked in everyday language about the municipality's geodata
- Translate that question into a structured query plan and run it
- Combine data held by different departments in a single search
- Filter objects by attribute and by spatial relationship, such as parcels bordering a watercourse
- Surface upcoming inspection deadlines, for example trees due for checking in a given quarter
- Check documentary conformity, such as which development plans exist in XPlan-compliant form
- Show how an answer was reached, so the query can be followed and repeated
When to use RIWANEXIS / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if RIWANEXIS is the right fit.
When to use RIWANEXIS
- Municipal staff with no GIS background, who need an answer from the map data without learning a query language
- Experienced GIS officers and cartographers looking to shorten complex cross-module searches
- Planning and building departments checking development plans, parcels and development potential
- Public works and green-space teams tracking inspection rounds on trees, roads, drains and networks
- Utility and asset managers working across water, gas, electricity and district-heating networks
When not to use RIWANEXIS
- Organisations that are not already running the RIWA GIS-Zentrum, since RIWANEXIS is an add-on rather than a standalone GIS
- Teams outside Germany, as the product assumes German cadastral standards such as ALKIS and XPlan
- Anyone who needs an English interface: the site and the product are German-only
- Developers looking for a public API, SDK or store-published mobile app, none of which exist
- Buyers who need a published price list or a self-service sign-up, as the tool is sold under contract
How to use RIWANEXIS
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Confirm that your authority already runs the RIWA GIS-Zentrum, as RIWANEXIS extends it rather than replacing it
- Request the two-month free trial through the form linked from the RIWANEXIS product page
- Agree the commercial arrangement with RIWA, since no price is published and the tool is sold under contract
- Conclude the Article 28 processing agreement through RIWA's AVV portal if that has not already been done
- Open the RIWA GIS-Zentrum in a browser
- Type your question in ordinary language, with no query syntax and no field names to remember
- Let the assistant interpret the request and build a structured query plan
- Read the answer together with the route it took, which RIWA presents as traceable and transparent
- Refine the wording and ask again if the result is not what you meant
- Fall back on RIWA support if needed, by hotline, by email or through a Servicewelt ticket
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Removes the GIS query-language barrier, so ordinary council staff can reach the data themselves
- Answers a single question using data held by several departments at once
- Operated and processed exclusively in Germany, with data sovereignty left with the municipality
- Explicit written commitment that the AI models are not trained on the terms users type
- Results are presented as traceable, which matters when geodata underpins regulatory decisions
- Sits on a mature platform: over 300 modules, more than 1,500 customers, a publisher registered since 1998
- Two months of free use before any commitment
Cons
- No published price of any kind, and no permanent free plan is announced
- Only available to RIWA GIS-Zentrum customers, which makes it a deep platform commitment
- German only; the /en address exists but serves German content
- No public API and no developer documentation
- No mobile application published on any app store
- A recent product whose headline capability, agentic multi-step work, is still described as forthcoming
- No security certification such as ISO 27001 or SOC 2 is claimed; the badges shown are provenance labels
Pricing & Plans
RIWA publishes no price for RIWANEXIS. There is no pricing page, no rate card and no figure anywhere on the site or in the general terms of business, which refer instead to the price list in force at the time of performance, a document that is not made public; all prices are stated to be exclusive of statutory VAT. The tool is sold under contract to public bodies, so the entry ticket is settled commercially rather than displayed. No permanent free plan is announced. The one published offer is a two-month free trial, requested through a form linked from the product page.
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how RIWANEXIS handles your data.
GDPR overview
The product page claims full GDPR compliance outright, and the supporting paperwork is unusually concrete for a tool of this size. RIWA has appointed an external data protection officer, Thomas Hug of IDKOM Networks GmbH in Kempten, reachable at datenschutz@idkom.de. Article 13 and Article 14 information sheets are published as PDFs, revised in April 2026, and they set out the data subject rights under Articles 15 to 21, Article 7(3) and Article 77 by name. Customers conclude their Article 28 processing agreements digitally through RIWA's own AVV portal. The controller is named as RIWA GmbH, Zwingerstrasse 2, Kempten. A separate notice warns that some website tools may transfer data to third countries and to US providers without Data Privacy Framework certification.
Who owns the data?
The municipality keeps its data. RIWA's product pages state that data sovereignty and control remain entirely with the local authority, and that no specialist data is passed to external systems. The general terms of business, dated July 2023, contain no licence granting RIWA any rights over customer content; they bind both parties to unlimited confidentiality over business secrets and anything marked confidential, and allow each party to process the other's data automatically only as far as performing the contract requires. Passing information to people not working on the assignment needs written consent. Where RIWA acts as a processor, the relationship is governed by an Article 28 GDPR agreement concluded through the company's own AVV portal.
Reuse rights
Customers keep normal use of their own geodata: nothing in the terms requires them to ask RIWA's permission to work with, export or publish it. Processing by the assistant is described as limited to the user's question and the structure of the data, and RIWA states that specialist data is not forwarded to external systems. Where a municipality chooses to publish, it does so on its own initiative through the RIWA WMS server, which serves plans into a public geoportal. The reciprocal confidentiality duty runs without time limit, so neither side may hand the other's material to uninvolved third parties without written agreement.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
RIWA states that it develops, operates and hosts all its solutions entirely in Germany, and the RIWANEXIS page repeats this for the product itself: operation and processing take place exclusively in Germany, with no transfer of specialist data to external systems. The GIS-Zentrum and the RIWA apps carry the Software Hosted in Germany provenance label, the GIS server and client the Software Made in Germany label; neither is a security certification. A distinction is worth keeping: the riwa.de marketing site is hosted separately by Mittwald CM Service GmbH & Co. KG in Espelkamp, Germany, and its resolved address geolocates to Germany on Mittwald's network. Website tools alone reach beyond that perimeter, including Google Analytics on US servers and CleverReach in Germany or Ireland, and RIWA warns generally about transfers to third countries and to US providers without Data Privacy Framework certification. German law applies, with Kempten as the place of performance and jurisdiction.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting RIWANEXIS.
- A fluent answer hides the query plan behind it: it is easy to accept a result without checking what was actually searched
- Municipal geodata underpins regulatory decisions on planning, charges and public safety, so an incomplete answer can carry legal consequences
- The promise of working without training can, over time, erode the in-house GIS skill that is needed to challenge a wrong result
- The general terms of business are headed with the Memmingen branch address while the legal notice, privacy policy and commercial register all give Kempten as the registered seat
- The badges Software Hosted in Germany and Software Made in Germany are provenance labels, not security certifications, and should not be read as ISO 27001 or SOC 2
- The data protection officer is external, so the GDPR contact address sits on a third-party domain rather than the publisher's
- Several headline capabilities, in particular the agentic multi-step assistant, are announced as future work rather than delivered function
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Technically undemanding. There is nothing to install: RIWANEXIS is used inside the browser-based GIS-Zentrum, and RIWA states it is usable straight away, without specialist queries or training. The real prerequisite is organisational rather than technical. The authority must already be a GIS-Zentrum customer with its specialist data maintained in the modules, and access begins with a trial request and a commercial conversation. RIWA runs GIS training courses online and at seven locations, but none of them is presented as a condition of using the assistant.
Deployment
Integrations
Supported languages
Behind RIWANEXIS
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Frequently asked questions
What is RIWANEXIS?
Do I need to know a query language to use it?
Can I use RIWANEXIS without the RIWA GIS-Zentrum?
Where is the data processed?
Are my entries used to train AI models?
What does it cost?
Is there an API or a mobile app?
What languages does it support?
Is a GDPR data processing agreement available?
Who is behind RIWANEXIS and how do I get support?
Should you pick RIWANEXIS?
RIWANEXIS is a narrow product that knows exactly what it is for. It does not try to be a general assistant; it removes one specific obstacle, the query language that keeps municipal geodata in the hands of the few people trained to interrogate it. The published sample questions are convincing precisely because they are mundane: which trees are due for inspection, which parcels border a watercourse, which development plans exist in XPlan-compliant form. These are the searches that consume an afternoon in a small planning office.
The privacy position is stronger than most. Operation and processing sit entirely in Germany, specialist data is said not to leave for external systems, and RIWA commits in writing that search terms are kept for thirty days, decoupled from account and IP address, and are not used to train the models. An appointed data protection officer, published Article 13 and 14 information sheets and a customer portal for concluding Article 28 agreements complete a picture that is unusually concrete for a vendor of this size.
The reservations are equally clear. Nothing about the price is public, so the real cost only emerges in a sales conversation. The tool is meaningless outside the RIWA GIS-Zentrum, which makes adopting it a platform decision rather than a software purchase. Everything is in German. And the product is young: it was shown publicly as a novelty in 2025, and the agentic, multi-step capability that gives the page its ambition is still described as the direction of travel rather than as something available today.
For a German municipality already running RIWA's GIS, the two-month trial is a low-risk way to find out whether the assistant answers the questions its own staff actually ask. For anyone else, it is not yet a candidate.
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