A DIDACTIC PROJECT FOR LANDSCAPE HERITAGE MAPPING IN POST-DISASTER MANAGEMENT

In recent years natural and human induced hazards have increasingly turned into disasters with rising frequency and intensity. These disasters pose threats to prominent cultural and natural heritage sites of the world and, therefore, require the intervention of skilled technicians and staff with specific scientific and cultural training. It is necessary to contribute towards reducing slow as well as catastrophic risks in short and long term, through the training of staff for intervention aimed at emergency management and mitigation of the impact and development of solutions with the collaboration of professionals working in this area. This paper presents a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The main goal was the training in geospatial data acquisition 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 using the modern geomatic methodology and techniques (terrestrial and aerial LiDAR, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.. All the acquired data and processing results have been implemented in a WebGIS platform to share information with local authorities and the Civil Protection. The proposed area for testing the training activities is inside the Cinque Terre National Park (Vernazza), registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011.