Client: Regional Management for Cultural and Landscape Properties in Piedmont

A first nucleus of Terrain Information Systems was set up, that from both an infrastructural and technological point of view, can be the basis on which, even in future times, all applications that have a territorial matrix and / or for which the geographic information makes up a relevant element, can join together.

Therefore has been implemented an application:

• available in Open Source environments;
• where information is shared between as many subjects as possible;
• in which an "integration diagram" is used in the case of amplification towards applications that are different to that under examination.

The project’s vision has foreseen an application that:

• is fully open-source-based, in order to obtain a lowering in costs linked to the software licenses;
• has been conceived to be easily expandable and reusable for the management of other catalogues for protected UNESCO works or in applications in which the role of mapping components is significant that receives all the indications in terms of user friendliness and specifics in the mapping area: Stanca Law, W3C, OGC, Intesa GIS.

The UNESCO WEB CATALOGUE is based on the use of two main instruments: the catalogue, the alphanumeric part formed by the list of property and GIS, the cartographic component. In graphic interfacing both connections are present that allow each user to pass from one component to the other.
The application allows:

• integrated management of graphic and alphanumeric catalogues;
• graphic data interface navigation (WEB-GIS);
• alphanumeric data browsing interface (Web catalogue);
• printing of personalised reports;
• documental management of attachments;
• user management;
• usability of the application.

In the Web GIS application, the user by means of a browser, interrogates a geographic database, dynamically managing both spatial and non spatial data.

However the images that are generated after the interrogation are realised, not on the basis of existing images in the database (hyperlink to a file) but instead as output of the interrogation made on the database.
The web interface is presented by a series of cartographic navigation instruments, data query instruments, a general map, a legend, a layer management for the visualisation scale.

The alphanumeric data interface is, as an alternative, a hierarchical visualisation of the data, where it is possible to consult, insert and modify the typologies that are in the system, as well as several report and research functions.

The system uses Linux OS and Apache Web Server; the Web GIS Application Server is MapServer, an Open Source type product, built to support GIS Intranet / Internet applications and designed to create and develop sites of a geographic nature.