Geospatial Tool Development for the Management of Historical Hiking Trails—The Case of the Holy Site of Meteora

Chryssy Potsiou (), Charalabos Ioannidis, Sofia Soile, Argyro-Maria Boutsi, Regina Chliverou, Konstantinos Apostolopoulos, Maria Gkeli and Fotis Bourexis
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Chryssy Potsiou: School of Rural, Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, Greece
Charalabos Ioannidis: School of Rural, Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, Greece
Sofia Soile: School of Rural, Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, Greece
Argyro-Maria Boutsi: School of Rural, Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, Greece
Regina Chliverou: School of Rural, Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, Greece
Konstantinos Apostolopoulos: School of Rural, Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, Greece
Maria Gkeli: School of Rural, Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, Greece
Fotis Bourexis: School of Rural, Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, Greece

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-19

Abstract: This paper presents a holistic guiding methodology for the development of a geospatial tool to be used for the documentation, planning, smart management and dissemination of a country’s network of historic hiking trails. To deal with the challenges and to ensure the sustainability of a historic site, geospatial documentation merging authoritative and crowdsourced data and a WebGIS-based spatial analysis is necessary. Geospatial data collection should include professional field surveys, professional and crowdsourced photographic documentation and video recording of the existing historic walking/hiking trails. A geodatabase, structured using relational model technology, including vector spatial entities (feature classes), mosaics (raster) and tabulated data (geodatabase tables), should be developed on a commercial or open platform; in this case, the ArcGIS Pro is used. Entities with embedded descriptive information and metadata for the technical, legal, historical, and administrative context may then be created. An object-oriented data model is needed to connect spatial and descriptive information. Spatial and descriptive queries or correlations between attribute fields of spatial entities must be enabled for specialized information retrieval by either experts or users. Next, a web GIS application to present the developed geodatabase in a visually appealing and informative way is created. It should integrate 2D maps with built-in tools and should support advanced functionalities, such as: (i) pop-ups that display brief information and images about specific spots along the trails; (ii) dynamic visualization of the vertical profile of each trail; (iii) multimedia information about landmarks, natural features and scenic viewpoints. Finally, the tool includes a feedback service and continuous efficiency monitoring and assessment, and enables adjustments, if and where needed. The tool is tested and used for 10 historical walking/hiking trails of the archaeological and Holy Site of Meteora, Central Greece. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The network, with a total length of 35 km, leads to six monasteries, still active since the 12th century, passing by gigantic rocks and beautiful natural landscapes. The site is famous globally and the greater area is continuously overcrowded with visitors. The tool is anticipated to be used for the documentation and management of the whole walking/hiking historic trail network of Greece in the future.

Keywords: GIS; cultural heritage; trail hiking; geodatabase; surveying documentation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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