---
id: ch4-guide-jackdaw
type: spine
title: "How to ask JackDaw about a place: draw, ask, approve, check"
readingTime: 3
standalone: true
core: false
teaser: "Draw a rectangle, ask in plain words, confirm the heavy steps, then read the tables: a first session with JackDaw, step by step."
parent: null
diagram: diagram-jackdaw-query-flow
recallQ: "What does a user do first in JackDaw, and why does that step shape every answer?"
recallA: "The user first defines an area on the map, by drawing a rectangle or searching a place name. That area is attached to every message as WKT, so the router's chosen tools (up to five per turn) and the GeoRAG search over the Raven catalogue all work on that territory; the user then confirms flagged steps and checks the referenced data."
highlights:
  - "Open jackdaw.avinet.no; the workflow is area-first"
  - "Sample queries: characterise an area, or check its suitability for a crop"
  - "Approval cards stop heavy or sensitive steps until you confirm"
  - "Restart from any earlier message to refine the area or the question"
status: accepted
concept: jackdaw
lang: en
lens: finland
depth: intro..standard
formalism: none
visuality: balanced
lengthBand: deep
genre: worked-example
state: edited
carriers: prose|diagram
---

**When to use it:** you have a question about a specific territory, from one farm plot to a region, that needs data about land, climate, people or businesses, not just text.

## What you need

- A browser: **[jackdaw.avinet.no](https://jackdaw.avinet.no)** (D4.1 §6.3). The application is secured through the platform's shared OAuth sign-in.
- An area in mind and one concrete question.

## Steps

1. **Define the area.** Draw a rectangle on the OpenLayers map or search a place name (GeoNames). You can also type into the navigation bar: "find Bratislava", "zoom in three steps", "draw a 5 km square here" (D4.2 §3.3.2).
2. **Ask in plain language.** Start from a shipped sample query: characterise the area by land use, industry and climate, or assess its suitability for a crop.
3. **Watch the progress.** A routing call picks up to five of the eighteen core tools; each one receives your area as WKT (D4.2 §3.3.1).
4. **Answer the approval card.** For a significant data retrieval or a choice between analysis strategies, JackDaw pauses and lists the parameters; confirm or reject.
5. **Read the result.** The text streams in; statistics, indicator tables and time series appear as interactive tables and charts below it.
6. **Check the evidence.** Note which documents or datasets the answer refers to before you reuse a number.
7. **Refine.** Ask a follow-up in the same thread, or restart from an earlier message with a different area or angle.
8. **Optional:** opt in to the research survey (your role plus anonymous logs, revocable), or, as an advanced user, register your own MCP server in the configuration modal.

## What you get

Source-grounded answers, references to documents or datasets, tool results as tables and charts, and sometimes geospatially informed follow-up suggestions (D4.2 §3.3).

## Pilot use

In **Mallusjoki**, JackDaw ran together with Raven metadata services, the Advisor and the MAA tool. D4.2 reports municipal-level spatial analysis that combined open geospatial datasets with local planning needs for the rural events ecosystem (Table 7).

## Watch out

- **First-time users felt lost**; D2.3 recommends a short tutorial and a "Help Me Get Started" route. Begin with the sample queries.
- Users expected more data-backed answers than the service's scope could give (D2.3).
- Answers depend on **metadata completeness and service reliability**, and evidence trails are harder to follow across several tool calls (D4.2 §3.3).
- If your local data is missing, publish it first: see [Raven and Magpie](#ch5-guide-raven-magpie).

Recordings of the JackDaw webinar series (November–December 2025) are at [poliruralplus.eu/knowledge-transfer/…](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/knowledge-transfer/education-videos/). How an answer is traced: [From data to decisions](#c/data-to-decisions).

**Sources:**
- D4.2 PoliRuralPlus Platform Beta, §3.3 Jackdaw GeoAI chat agent (3.3.1 backend, 3.3.2 user interface); §6.2 Table 7. [PDF](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/docs/421/D4.2_PoliRuralPlus_Platform_Beta.pdf)
- D4.1 PoliRuralPlus platform design, §6.3 Jackdaw: A Spatial Enabled Chat Agent. [PDF](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/docs/162/D4.1_PoliRuralPlus_platform_design_v1.pdf)
- D2.3 Rural-urban data analysis, recommendations "Provide Onboarding and In-Tool Help" and "Strengthen Data and Service Integration". [PDF](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/docs/382/D2.3_Rural_Urban_data_analysis_v1.0.pdf)
- PoliRural+ education videos (JackDaw webinar series). [poliruralplus.eu/knowledge-transfer/…](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/knowledge-transfer/education-videos/)