Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)

This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio

Integrating BIM and GIS in railway projects: A critical review

The railway plays a significant role in human life by providing safe, reliable, costeffective services, which are environmental and drive economic growth. Significant decisions are taken at early stage of rail projects which need effective tools to avoid rework and save time, cost and increase work efficiency. Indeed, the continuous upgrading of this sector is needed to respond to technological advances, environmental change and increased customer demands. Integrating Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographic Information systems (GIS) is promising since the scope of BIM usually does not extend beyond the footprint of the “building”; it does not provide geospatial data. Therefore, integrating BIM with GIS provides a complete picture of the project. However, this integration is challenging especially in rail projects as they are amongst the most complicated projects and numerous parties are involved in making important decisions. This paper reviews the literature regarding integrating BIM with GIS systematically, with the aim of analysing the need for this integration and its benefits. The paper highlights a lack of a clear guideline for collaboration in the railway project lifecycle and indicates the need for research to focus on this issue as well as the possibility of applying integrated BIM with GIS as a potential solution to improve collaboration for better decision among project participants

Extending indoor open street mapping environments to navigable 3D citygml building models: Emergency response assessment

© Authors 2018. Disaster scenarios in high-rise buildings such as the Address Downtown, Dubai or Grenfell Tower, London have showed ones again the importance of data information availability for emergency management in buildings. 3D visualization of indoor routing services using extensive and high quality geographic data sources is essential for spatial analysis in emergency responses. In order to facilitate emergency response simulations, a combination of geometrical, graphical and semantic information is essential. Successful and efficient emergency evacuation responses is facilitated by the availability of both digital static and dynamic information of the incident site. However, interruptions may be encountered with the availability of dynamic data, where static data developed using indoor navigation ontologies serve as an alternative to inform the first responders. Thus, it is necessary to obtain a firm, interactive and quasi-realistic virtual simulation of the building environments. Voxelized CityGML models imported into voxel based hazard simulation systems fits well into the simulation algorithm requirements (Groger et al., 2008; Moreno et.al, 2010). Therefore, the research investigates an alternative platform for generating CityGML spatial analysis models. LoD4 models are developed using Computer Aided Design (Auto CAD) 2D files, crowdsourced geo-data (OpenStreetMap) and open source tools. A combination of software packages is utilized for 3D reconstruction of building interiors. This process is achieved through a Java application developed by researchers at Heidelberg University. Conclusions drawn from the research validate the 3D CityGML model generation process as an international standard to effectively enhance the outcome of emergency evacuation simulations of high rise buildings

A state-of-the-art review on the integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Geographic Information System (GIS)

The integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Geographic Information System (GIS) has been identified as a promising but challenging topic to transform information towards the generation of knowledge and intelligence. Achievement of integrating these two concepts and enabling technologies will have a significant impact on solving problems in the civil, building and infrastructure sectors. However, since GIS and BIM were originally developed for different purposes, numerous challenges are being encountered for the integration. To better understand these two different domains, this paper reviews the development and dissimilarities of GIS and BIM, the existing integration methods, and investigates their potential in various applications. This study shows that the integration methods are developed for various reasons and aim to solve different problems. The parameters influencing the choice can be summarized and named as "EEEF" criteria: effectiveness, extensibility, effort, and flexibility. Compared with other methods, semantic web technologies provide a promising and generalized integration solution. However, the biggest challenges of this method are the large efforts required at early stage and the isolated development of ontologies within one particular domain. The isolation problem also applies to other methods. Therefore, openness is the key of the success of BIM and GIS integration

Citizen participation in city planning and public decision assisted with ontologies and 3D semantics

Sustainable development of cities implies investigating cities in a holistic way taking into account many interrelations between various urban and environmental problems. Urban models are created with the objective of helping city planners and stakeholders in their decision-making processes. Models which represent in 3 dimensions the geometric elements of a city are called 3D city models. These models are increasingly used in different cities and countries for an intended wide range of applications beyond mere visualization. Such uses are made possible by adding semantics to the geometrical aspects, leading to semantically enriched 3D city models. This can be achieved by using the primary data and ontologies to achieve the semantic enrichment of 3D city models as well as their interoperability with other urban models. Objective of the paper is to present how semantically enriched 3D city models and ontologies may help in sustainable landscape city planning

Environmental monitoring: landslide assessment and risk management (Test site: Vernazza, Cinque Terre Natural Park)

Natural disasters, whether of meteorological origin such as cyclones, floods, tornadoes and droughts or having geological nature such as earthquakes, volcanoes and landslide, are well known for their devastating impacts on human life, economy and environment. Over recent decades, the people and the societies are becoming more vulnerable; although the frequency of natural events may be constant, human activities contribute to their increased intensity. Indeed, every year millions of people are affected by natural disasters globally and, only in the last decade, more than 80% of all disaster-related deaths were caused by natural hazards. The PhD work is part of the activities for the support and development of methodologies useful to improve the management of environmental emergencies. In particular, it focused on the analysis of environmental monitoring and disaster risk management, a systematic approach to identify, to assess and to reduce the potential risks produced by a disaster. This method (Disaster Risk Management) aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities and deals with natural and man-made events. In the PhD thesis, in particular, the slope movements have been evaluated. Slope failures are generally not so costly as earthquakes or major floods, but they are more widespread, and over the years may cause more property loss than any other geological hazard. In many developing regions slope failures constitute a continuing and serious impact on the social and economic structure. Specifically, the Italian territory has always been subject to instability phenomena, because of the geological and morphological characteristic and because of "extreme" weather events that are repeated more frequently than in the past, in relation to climate change. Currently these disasters lead to the largest number of victims and damages to settlements, infrastructure and historical and cultural environmental, after the earthquakes. The urban development, especially in recent decades, resulted in an increase of the assets at risk and unstable areas, often due to constant human intervention badly designed that led to instability also places previously considered "safe". Prevention is therefore essential to minimize the damages caused by landslides The objectives of the conducted research were to investigate the different techniques and to check their potentiality, in order to evaluate the most appropriate instrument for landslide hazard assessment in terms of better compromise between time to perform the analysis and expected results. The attempt is to evaluate which are the best methodologies to use according to the scenario, taking into consideration both reachable accuracies and time constraints. Careful considerations will be performed on strengths, weaknesses and limitations inherent to each methodology. The characteristics associated with geographic, or geospatial, information technologies facilitate the integration of scientific, social and economic data, opening up interesting possibilities for monitoring, assessment and change detection activities, thus enabling better informed interventions in human and natural systems. This is an important factor for the success of emergency operations and for developing valuable natural disaster preparedness, mitigation and prevention systems. The test site was the municipality of Vernazza, which in October 2011 was subject to a extreme rainfall which led to the occurrence of a series of landslides along the Vernazzola stream, which have emphasized the flood event that affected the water cours

Military applications of geological engineering

This work examines the premise that military engineering and geological engineering are intellectually paired and overlapped in practice to a significant extent. Geological engineering is an established, albeit young, academic discipline that enjoys wide industry and civil demand and is supported by many professional organizations. In contrast, military engineering is an ancient, empirically derived training or OJT program with practice-based trade-associations that has narrow government-only utility. The premise is formed by decades-long observation of U. S. Army military engineer officers completing a Master of Science degree in geological engineering as a complement to their practice-based training in military engineering at the Captains Career Course of the U.S. Army Engineer School. Almost everywhere has some existing data on the local geology for civil purposes, yet these are ignored, not accessible or not translated to military purposes. A description of the intersection between military and geological engineering is followed by comparison the practice of the geological and military engineer. Research and intellectual development is projected to fill current gaps in military considerations by geological engineers. Finally, steps to share these concepts and convince military engineers to adopt and extend the geological underpinnings of their profession are outlined. This work serves both a personal and professional interest. Previous personal work at the intersection of military scholarship and engineering underlie this premise --Abstract, page iv