Verona Province, Italy

Verona Province uses a geospatial data management solution from Intergraph to organize, manage, use, and maintain digital cartographic databases

italy The Challenge:

Verona Province sought an alternative to purchasing dedicated hardware and software to create a reliable, accessible geospatial data management and cartography system for personnel in the areas of civil protection, planning, environmental awareness, and tourism. Project planners wanted to use existing infrastructure to achieve security, reliability, flexibility, and robustness features capable of ensuring the project’s continuity and progress, along with high service levels.

Selecting technologies for the system required an extensive analysis of available development frameworks, tools, and applications and of the possibilities for integration of the various technologies with the entire system being designed. The analysis assessed the maximum performance levels achievable in an integrated environment, providing the technology core on which the entire project would be based. The systems chosen were Microsoft .NET for developing Web-based applications, a relational database from Oracle, and the GeoMedia platform from Intergraph for cartographic management and data interrogation and presentation.

The Project Objectives:

Create a reliable, accessible geospatial data management and cartography system for personnel in the areas of civil protection, planning, environmental awareness, and tourism
Develop an integrated system for organizing, managing, using, and maintaining digital cartographic databases stored in SITP
Deploy processes and operational tools for use by provincial offices and other public agencies and by ordinary citizens, associations, and professionals

The Solution:

Verona Province turned to Intergraph Security, Government & Infrastructure to implement SITP – Sistema Informativo Territoriale Provinciale (Territorial Information Subsystem for Verona Province), an integrated knowledge-based system, in which cartographic and descriptive data are stored in the database, and cartography is the basis for queries. The database can be easily updated by authorized users in different locations and be accessed by individual users through the Internet and standard Web-browser tools.

Implementation began with the data-collection phase, using a series of contacts and checks with the central and local reference sites in Verona Province, as well as among the various organizational units and communities involved. The collected data, initially available only on paper, was digitized and combined with existing electronic format data. It was then organized and entered into the system according to specific quality parameters, thus meeting the exact criteria stipulated for analyzing and defining the project aimed at creating a single repository of territorial and documentary information for the administration.

The task of standardizing this data was tackled by using the cartographic elements from the regional technical map (CTR) 1:5000, such as georeferencing objects and locating different types of information. As a result, sets of territorial data that were usually disparate in terms of cartographic support, geographical projection, and detail of information could now be superimposed and more accurately compared.

The quality of this data was guaranteed by a series of controls performed on the data structures in the database to maintain the topology, unambiguous nature of the information, and the correct compilation of the descriptive tables associated with the cartographic features.

Verona Province has implemented a unified Web-based system based on GeoMedia technology. GeoMedia desktop applications are used to design cartographic presentations and query functions. In terms of cartography and documentation, data standards that are widely accepted are used, and GIS data structures are based on specifications stated in the “Intesa Stato-Regioni” (State-Regions Agreement).

The system significantly reduces redundancy and implementation costs by sharing information and technology among authorized agencies and sectors across the Internet using GeoMedia WebMap. In addition, GeoMedia WebMap’s capabilities for dynamic map generation allow users to customize maps and queries to obtain the specific information they require.

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