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

"Last-Mile" preparation for a potential disaster

Extreme natural events, like e.g. tsunamis or earthquakes, regularly lead to catastrophes with dramatic consequences. In recent years natural disasters caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, destruction of infrastructure, disruption of economic activity and loss of billions of dollars worth of property and thus revealed considerable deficits hindering their effective management: Needs for stakeholders, decision-makers as well as for persons concerned include systematic risk identification and evaluation, a way to assess countermeasures, awareness raising and decision support systems to be employed before, during and after crisis situations. The overall goal of this study focuses on interdisciplinary integration of various scientific disciplines to contribute to a tsunami early warning information system. In comparison to most studies our focus is on high-end geometric and thematic analysis to meet the requirements of small-scale, heterogeneous and complex coastal urban systems. Data, methods and results from engineering, remote sensing and social sciences are interlinked and provide comprehensive information for disaster risk assessment, management and reduction. In detail, we combine inundation modeling, urban morphology analysis, population assessment, socio-economic analysis of the population and evacuation modeling. The interdisciplinary results eventually lead to recommendations for mitigation strategies in the fields of spatial planning or coping capacity

Geoinformation Perspectives for Managing Change in Ecological Economy of Rainfed Regions

Not AvailableGeoinformation and ecological economy share a strong attribute viz., scale. Scale of entities acting therewith and their role as key development influences. Ecological economy as a process, dealing with products realised at various scales of aggregation of stakes, can have a strong parallel with geoinformation systems capable of representing range of natural and manmade entities as well as their juxtapositions. Agricultural economy generally pertains to generation of assets based on performance of cropped lands and excludes often, the asset generation accomplished using other associated natural resources like forest , fish and recreation. Asset generation based on these latter activities using ecologically non invasive approaches may be considered along with agricultural economy, as a true context of ecological economy or a strongly ecology based economy. Farm economy in most of the rainfed contexts retains for better part, remains at times, a conventional approach of selecting crops and modest level of external inputs due to individuals’ investment capacity. Global level changes either physical or fiscal in nature are increasingly influencing the cropping pattern and related land use initiatives and is pushing near subsistence systems to change. Possible attributes inherent to the system may explain why it is important to perceive the phenomeon as strongly ecology oriented i. Autecological and synecological processes of a crop strongly determines the asset creation for an average farmer. ii. Asset generation as influenced by biotic, climatic and other locality factors acquire stronger ecological connotations. Since any intervention of innovation does not gain significance unless it crosses threshold of either a spatial or temporal scale, in terms of asset generation/ecological amelioration, it is essential to retain intrinsic scale reference. iii. As trends in rainfed farming either with regard to man or his biota related actions have huge impact on the regional market/policy, by virtue of a success or a failure otherwise, it would be naïve to consider the case as a fit candidate under ecological economy.Not Availabl

Geoinformation Perspectives for Managing Change in Ecological Economy of Rainfed Regions

Not AvailableGeoinformation and ecological economy share a strong attribute viz., scale. Scale of entities acting therewith and their role as key development influences. Ecological economy as a process, dealing with products realised at various scales of aggregation of stakes, can have a strong parallel with geoinformation systems capable of representing range of natural and manmade entities as well as their juxtapositions. Agricultural economy generally pertains to generation of assets based on performance of cropped lands and excludes often, the asset generation accomplished using other associated natural resources like forest , fish and recreation. Asset generation based on these latter activities using ecologically non invasive approaches may be considered along with agricultural economy, as a true context of ecological economy or a strongly ecology based economy. Farm economy in most of the rainfed contexts retains for better part, remains at times, a conventional approach of selecting crops and modest level of external inputs due to individuals’ investment capacity. Global level changes either physical or fiscal in nature are increasingly influencing the cropping pattern and related land use initiatives and is pushing near subsistence systems to change. Possible attributes inherent to the system may explain why it is important to perceive the phenomeon as strongly ecology oriented i. Autecological and synecological processes of a crop strongly determines the asset creation for an average farmer. ii. Asset generation as influenced by biotic, climatic and other locality factors acquire stronger ecological connotations. Since any intervention of innovation does not gain significance unless it crosses threshold of either a spatial or temporal scale, in terms of asset generation/ecological amelioration, it is essential to retain intrinsic scale reference. iii. As trends in rainfed farming either with regard to man or his biota related actions have huge impact on the regional market/policy, by virtue of a success or a failure otherwise, it would be naïve to consider the case as a fit candidate under ecological economyNot Availabl