GPS tracks and representation of landscape structural facts: an experience of survey in the territory crossed by the Appulo - Lucane railway

This paper reports the first results of an experience of surveying and representation of the structural facts that support the landscape and of the cultural polarities that are present in the territories in between the cities of Matera and Irsina, crossed by the Appulo – Lucana railway. The research is carried on with reference to the possible spatial scale relationships that can be identified between the elements of cultural and environmental nature - the value of which is already widely recognized - and other systems, related to components of a more heterogeneous character and less explored meaning, as are, for example, the infrastructures. Within this study are highlighted the potential of geolocating systems and GPS tracking, as a means to support and even enhance, both the direct connection with the exploration experience and local knowledge, and the development of thematic maps that may contribute to determine, through a synthetic image, a synoptic cognitive framework. The identification of the case study of the Appulo – Lucana railway, along the route Bari - Matera - Potenza, represents an opportunity for field-testing of methodological approaches in relation to the opportunities for tourism development of the territories in between Puglia and Basilicata and to investigate the role that a positive relationship between infrastructures and landscape can play in this field. These actions can favorably be integrated with those already undertaken in Matera as a UNESCO site and as candidate city as European Capital of Culture in 2019.