Geographic Information System (GIS) and Data Management and Retrieval System (DMRS) in the CENAS Project

Abstract

The large quantity of non-homogeneous data resulting from the analysis of field measurements and the simulation of the different physical phenomena of CENAS have been organized in an “overall data management environment” developed in the course of the project. The structure of the environment is divided into two main modules: a Geographic Information System (GIS) and a Data Management and Retrieval System (DMRS). Manipulation of site-specific raster, vector, and point data has been performed by means of the GRASS package, a GIS system developed at the US Army Corp of Engineers. GRASS was used for the definition of digital elevation models of the study area and of the land use maps of the coastal regions of the Eastern Po plain, and for the analysis of littoral dynamics of the Upper Adriatic Sea coastline at the local and macro scales. The DMRS has been developed for the efficient storage and retrieval of the project data files. The files, in their original formats, have been organized in a subdirectory tree and subdivided into two main classes according to the related scale (macro or local). A further subdivision within each class has been establish according to the physical characteristics of the data and their possible utilization in the different simulation models that form the overall project (e.g bathymetry, land use, subsidence). The capabilities of the World Wide Web (WWW) has been used for the implementation of a Data Retrieval System that easily allows the query of project data and at the same time the exchange of data between the different project partners. In the CENAS “WWW home page” all types of information about the project can be obtained, and field data and simulation results can be visualized or retrieved through Internet.