The characterisation of "living" landscapes: The role of mixed descriptors and volunteering geographic information

Abstract

Over the last decade the need for public bodies to characterise the vitality and degree of sustainability of their territories is well acknowledged. Still it remains unclear how to integrate the different categories of values of our daily life places in a comprehensive way in order to develop appropriate and well balanced policies. An experimental case has been designed to provide novel sets of indicators by integrating information extracted from custom maps, spatial descriptors of land use and land cover and socio-economic indicators. In order to fully grasp the character of a living place, the nuances of less tangible aspects should be also understood. To do so, the results developed during first steps have been subsequently refined by incorporating relevant volunteering geographical information available on Google Earth® platform. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.