Simile, a geospatial enabler of the monitoring of sustainable development goal 6 (ensure availability and sustainability of water for all)

Abstract

The paper presents SIMILE (Italian acronym for "Integrated monitoring system for knowledge, protection and valorization of the subalpine lakes and their ecosystems), a cross-border Italian-Swiss project whose general objectives are the strengthening of the coordinated management of the water of the great subalpine lakes in the so-called Insubric region and the intensification of stakeholder participation in the processes of knowledge and monitoring of the water resource. The project fits the purpose of SDG 6 and involves administrations, monitoring agencies, universities and research centers, and citizens. SIMILE is a system where geospatial data, information, and techniques play a pivotal role. The system strongly benefits the information derived from the analysis of Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 3 imagery, in situ authoritative data, and user-contributed georeferenced data. A Business Intelligence (BI) platform, i.e. a web data-driven decision support system, will allow the integration, analysis, and synthesis of the information derived from the different types of data, heterogeneous in format, coordinate system, information content, and access method. The technologies that will be used are based on open software so as to guarantee the replicability and sustainability of the system..