Multi-scale Web Mapping for Geoheritage Visualisation and Promotion

Abstract

Due to the renewed interest for sites of geological interest, both in nature conservation and tourist sectors, numerous regional and national geosite inventories have been carried out in several countries during the last two decades. For this purpose, various assessment methods have been developed and published. The issue of the representation of the results of inventories—in particular, the mapping system, the question of updating data—remains open. Moreover, if in the field of nature conservation, practitioners are used to working with GIS, it is not the case in the tourist sector where data must be delivered to the users in open-access and easy-to-use formats. This paper discusses what opportunities of web mapping methods and techniques there are in the domain of geoheritage assessment and promotion. A web mapping application in Google Maps application programming interface (API) framework is proposed to disseminate the results of geosite inventories carried out in Switzerland both at national and regional scales. The interest of the proposed application is discussed according to three main criteria: mapping interests and limitations, management purposes and interpretive issues.