A New Way to Explore Volcanic Areas: QR-Code-Based Virtual Geotrail at Mt. Etna Volcano, Italy

Federico Pasquaré Mariotto, Fabio Luca Bonali, Alessandro Tibaldi, Emanuela De Beni, Noemi Corti, Elena Russo, Luca Fallati, Massimo Cantarero and Marco Neri
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Federico Pasquaré Mariotto: Department of Human and Innovation Sciences, Insubria University, Via S. Abbondio 12, 22100 Como, Italy
Fabio Luca Bonali: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1-4, 20126 Milan, Italy
Alessandro Tibaldi: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1-4, 20126 Milan, Italy
Emanuela De Beni: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia-Osservatorio Etneo, Piazza Roma 2, 95125 Catania, Italy
Noemi Corti: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1-4, 20126 Milan, Italy
Elena Russo: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1-4, 20126 Milan, Italy
Luca Fallati: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1-4, 20126 Milan, Italy
Massimo Cantarero: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia-Osservatorio Etneo, Piazza Roma 2, 95125 Catania, Italy
Marco Neri: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia-Osservatorio Etneo, Piazza Roma 2, 95125 Catania, Italy

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: In this body of work, we showcase a historic virtual geotrail on the eastern flank of the iconic Mt. Etna volcano (Italy), along a series of outstanding geological sites and features subsequent to an important eruption that took place in 1928. A geohistoric account of such a major eruption, is of great interest, since it is the only event since 1669 to have caused the destruction of a town (Mascali) in the Etna region. Volcanologists, educators, the lay public, tourists and volcano explorers can now access a series of “virtual geostops” belonging to this virtual geotrail, such that “visitors” can virtually fly above these sites by scanning a QR code on the printed or electronic version of the present manuscript, as well as on the poster provided as additional material for this manuscript. The virtual geostops that comprise the virtual geotrail were developed using the structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry technique from images captured by using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The main result of our work is the virtual geotrail, subdivided in two parts and composed of eight geostops, each showing outstanding examples of geological features resulting from volcanic phenomena that took place also during 1979. Our approach is designed to support classical field trips, and it can undoubtedly become complementary to traditional field teaching in earth sciences, both now and in the future.

Keywords: geotrail; Etna volcano; QR code; virtual reality; photogrammetry; geo-education; Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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