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DIS-ALP
FINAL REPORT
DIS-ALP
Disaster Information System of Alpine Regions
Berger Elisabeth, Grisotto Silvio, Hübl Johannes, Kienholz Hans, Kollarits Stefan, Leber
Diethart, Loipersberger Anton, Marchi Lorenzo, Mazzorana Bruno, Moser Markus, Nössing
Tanja, Riedler Walter, Scheidl Christian, Schmid Franziska, Schnetzer Ingo, Siegel
Hubert, Volk Gerhard
Final Report
Februay 2007
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PRISMA
Finalisation
2007-02-13 Version 1.0
PRISMA, IAN
Methodology
2006-06-29 Version 0.6
PRISMA
Portal,…
2006-06-21 Version 0.56
Bozen/Nössing
Projects in schools “Dealing
with natural hazards”
2006-06-21 Version 0.55
historical documentations
final version
2006-06-06 Version 0.5
Geoexpert
New Tools
finalisation
2006-06-06 Version 0.4
CNR IRPI Padova
New Tools
GPS tests and use of LIDAR
data
2006-05-17 Version 0.32
PRISMA
General content – Kick Off
2006-04-20 Version 0.2
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Table of contents
Table of contents .......................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 7
Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... 8
Methodology.............................................................................................................................. 9
Documentation support .............................................................................................................. 9
Implementation ........................................................................................................................10
Methodology ................................................................................................................................11
Introduction..............................................................................................................................11
Documentation on a national and regional level ..........................................................................12
Data entry forms ...................................................................................................................13
Additional information............................................................................................................14
Basic principles of DIS-ALP ........................................................................................................17
Methodology .........................................................................................................................17
Definitions.............................................................................................................................18
Event.................................................................................................................................18
Process groups, processes ..................................................................................................19
Phenomena........................................................................................................................21
Characteristics....................................................................................................................22
Collection standards ..................................................................................................................23
3W-standard .........................................................................................................................24
Annotation: “what“? ...........................................................................................................25
Annotation: “when“?...........................................................................................................25
Annotation: “where”? .........................................................................................................25
5W-standard .........................................................................................................................26
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Annotation: “who”? ............................................................................................................26
Annotation: “how” and “why”? ............................................................................................26
5W+ standard .......................................................................................................................27
Integration of standards into checklists and data bases ...............................................................27
Flow of information and data .....................................................................................................30
Flow of information................................................................................................................30
Reporter ............................................................................................................................31
Decision-maker ..................................................................................................................31
Documentalist ....................................................................................................................32
Preparatory measures ............................................................................................................32
Order of priority of the investigation .......................................................................................32
Investigation phase A .........................................................................................................33
Investigation phase B .........................................................................................................34
Investigation phase C .........................................................................................................34
Flow of data ..........................................................................................................................35
Technical guideline for event documentation ..............................................................................35
Basic cartographic considerations ...........................................................................................35
DIS-ALP Knowledge Base ..........................................................................................................38
Knowledge formalisation ........................................................................................................38
DIS-ALP knowledge as ontology .............................................................................................39
DIS-ALP ontology example .....................................................................................................40
DIS-ALP ontology use ............................................................................................................41
Documentation support ................................................................................................................42
New tools for geo-hazard documentation in the field and by remote sensing ................................42
Introduction ..........................................................................................................................42
Basic Principles - Experiences .................................................................................................43
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Implementation – Field trials and Results from the evaluation of the
applicability of modern remote sensing techniques ..................................................................45
Recommendations .................................................................................................................55
Instruction................................................................................................................................57
Introduction ..........................................................................................................................57
Field Guide............................................................................................................................57
Projects in schools “Dealing with natural hazards” ...................................................................59
Introduction.......................................................................................................................59
Principles of working with elementary and high school students ............................................59
Excursion on half a day with elementary school classes ........................................................60
Teaching unit with selected high school classes....................................................................61
Outlook..............................................................................................................................61
Implementation............................................................................................................................62
Introduction..............................................................................................................................62
Compilation and documentation of historical natural hazard events .............................................63
Procedure for the compilation and documentation of historical natural
hazard events........................................................................................................................63
Definition of the objectives of the study...............................................................................64
Historical sources and archives............................................................................................65
Interpretation of historical sources and extraction of the relevant
information ........................................................................................................................67
Description of the results ....................................................................................................70
Opportunities and limitations for the documentation of historical natural
hazard events........................................................................................................................71
Experiences of historical natural hazard events documentation (Institute of
Mountain Risk Engineering – IAN, BOKU) ................................................................................73
Spatial Planning and Risk management requirements ..................................................................74
Requirements for spatial planning .......................................................................................74
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Requirements for risk management .....................................................................................75
Requirements for the experts ..............................................................................................75
DIS-ALP web portal ...................................................................................................................76
Data integration into DIS-ALP portal .......................................................................................80
Bulk Insert of individual data...............................................................................................80
Setup of a DIS-ALP conforming Web Feature Service (WFS). ................................................81
Event Functionality ................................................................................................................82
DIS-ALP Web Services...............................................................................................................83
References...................................................................................................................................84
Project Consortium.......................................................................................................................89
Participants..................................................................................................................................90
Detailed annexes..........................................................................................................................94
Methodology (WP5) ...............................................................................................................94
System development (WP6) ...................................................................................................94
New Tools (WP7)...................................................................................................................95
Instruction ............................................................................................................................95
Implementation .....................................................................................................................95
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Introduction
Throughout the alpine regions natural disasters are a common threat to
human activities and development. The kind of natural disasters
distinguishes the alpine regions from non-mountainous regions of
Europe. The management of natural risks in a mountainous environment
and the prevention of disasters requires a broad and accessible
information basis. A high priority in the information needs may be
attributed to data about former disasters, which must be available as the
baseline for interdisciplinary and interregional research and provides an
important decision factor for common actions to prevent disasters and
deal with natural risks. But the information needs - defined by the
practitioners of spatial planning, risk prevention, civil protection and
catastrophe management - are not yet being met in terms of structured
data. DIS-ALP harmonises information basis and makes information more
easily accessible and integrated for spatial decision-making processes.
This improved and homogenised information provides the basis for
danger zoning and activity zoning as well as for regional and sectoral
spatial development concepts. For this end DIS-ALP results are available
in core working areas:
o Methodology
increase disaster information accessibility by common
methodology and knowledge base and thus improvement of
reliability and comparability of distaster information;
o Documentation support
improvement of field-documentation process via new tools and
hands-on instruction materials for documentation;
o Implementation
collect data about recent and historical events as database
information and provision of all results in DIS-ALP web portal;
Keywords: DIS-ALP, Natural Hazards, Event Documentation,
Information Technologies, Thesaurus and knowledge base
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Executive Summary
The documentation of natural hazards within the alpine range is
characterized by a large quantity of information, which often lacks
comparability and/or comprehensibility. Different responsibilities and
“traditions” of data collection as well as unstandardised storage of event
information pose difficulties in communication between organizations
(see Figure 1). This situation is further complicated by language barriers
and heterogeneous viewpoints of different disciplines.
Figure 1: Cornerstones of event documentation - current situation
DIS-ALP supports the documentation process of natural hazards by
sharing and complementing knowledge of different disciplines within
three major domains:
o Methodology
o Documentation support
o Implementation
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Methodology
Based on DOMODIS (Hübl et. al. 2002), the Methodology work package
(WP5) dealt with the basic requirements for a standardised event
documentation. DIS-ALP analysed and evaluated existing information
sources on a transnational basis. Practical and technical guidebooks for
event documentation were
developed, taking into account spatial
planning and civil protection. To
implement these data in a
cartographic environment, clear
definitions of features (“phenomena”)
as well as a generalized legend were
generated.
All results of methodological
considerations were formalised as a
knowledge-standard of natural
hazards. This knowledge base was realised as a specified domain-
ontology structuring DIS-ALP knowledge. It covers a wide range of terms
and background information in the field of natural hazards of alpine
regions. The emphasis is in the domain of event documentation realised
by the integration of an event documentation task-ontology.
In order to improve mutual understanding and interoperability between
different organisations the DIS-ALP knowledge base uses the
foundational ontology of WonderWeb (DolceLight). The DIS-ALP ontology
has been defined as multilingual and trans-disciplinary in order to
improve the communication between experts of different disciplines and
regions, the public and practitioners.
Documentation support
Innovative use of some up-to-date technologies and procedures in post-
event documentation surveys was declared as the main objective of work
package New Tools (WP7). Emphasis within this work package was the
development of field documentation tools and its practical test,
integrating GPS, mobile GIS and wireless communication as well as
Methodology
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remote sensing technologies for more efficient information collection and
improved documentation quality.
With the aim of broad knowledge transfer, work package 8, Instruction
(WP8), was responsible for the spreading of knowledge about the
standardised event documentation methodology among potential users.
Development of instruction materials and tutorials has been the main
objective within this work package. Instruction courses were held as
seminars, both as theory and field work courses.
Implementation
The work domain implementation covered a wide range of issues and
was based on the methodology developed.
First applications within the range of historical event
documentation were realised within work package
Implementations (WP9) in Bavaria (Germany),
Salzburg (Austria) and South Tyrol (Italy). Two different
approaches have been implemented. First focus was on
multiple events in a specified region during a defined
time period. The second approach focussed on single
events within a specified period of time.
To benefit from given standardised information a broadly accessible
information platform was developed as DIS-ALP web portal within work
package System Development (WP6). This platform seamlessly
integrates disaster information from partners institutions with DIS-ALP
knowledge base and thus supports disaster planning, management, and
communication. It integrates spatial information objects and GIS-based
methods of visualisation, querying and input, so that easy access for
experts and the public is guaranteed.
During the project period the DIS-ALP information platform was also
used for public dissemination of information and results as well as a
discussion forum for project partners and related institutions or experts.
Platform and web portal will continue to provide up-to-date information
beyond the official end of DIS-ALP.
Implementation
Support Tools
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Methodology
Introduction
Based on the results of the international project DOMODIS, efforts to
document natural hazards have been intensified in the alpine countries.
Several different methods and approaches have been developed in recent
years. Depending on regional or national requirements or organizational
conditions the focuses of event documentation are set differently.
One aim of DIS-ALP was a methodical unification of the immediate
documentation procedure of natural hazards. In work package 5 of
DIS-ALP a common standard or the minimum demands on the event
documentation, which can be expanded optionally, were defined. After
that, in a further step, the collected facts can be analysed and
interpreted. This approach enables adequately trained people to conduct
a primary documentation.
This report presents the most important elements of event
documentation. Moreover, it defines the used terms, determines
standards for the inquiry, demonstrates the transfer of data to data base
patterns and explains the flow of information and data. In the appendix
there are checklists and definitions for the further use.
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Figure 2: Structure of DIS-ALP Method
Documentation on a national and regional level
In the alpine countries there are different regulations for the legal,
organisational and structural conditions for the event documentation.
Generally, the documentation of hazardous events can only be carried
out successfully when appropriate legal and administrative conditions are
clearly fulfilled. This means that those people who are entrusted with the
documentation on site must have a distinct work order basing on legal
regulations.
As the experience from Switzerland shows, the idea of using local
observers has proved its value. The advantage is that these people are
familiar with local conditions and can quickly attend the location of an
event. Therefore, mainly forest officials and surveyors of roads are
consulted for this responsibility. The documentation is conducted by
using standardised forms or check-lists. Afterwards these data are
checked whether they are plausible and are filed in an appropriate shape
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(as a hardcopy or digitally in a data base). On the basis of this
verification more detailed or supplementary investigations can be
arranged. The available data are normally managed by the responsible
authority, whereas the responsibility depends on regional or national
conditions.
Top-quality documentation requires standardised forms and checklists.
Only this way, events can be compared and reconstructed for a later
analysis.
Event documentation in Switzerland, South Tyrol, Bavaria and Austria is
based on date entry forms, which, nevertheless, are different.
Data entry forms
The structures of the data entry forms of the above-named countries are
all about the same. Starting with the entry of basic data, concerning the
particular area (basic information), more detailed information, separated
by the kind of process, is registered afterwards.
The following processes can be distinguished:
o flood
o debris-flow
o avalanche
o slide
o stone fall (rock fall)
As an indicator for the quality of the data the so-called MAXO-Code has
gained acceptance. This MAXO-Code has already been regarded as
decisive in the DOMODIS project.
The data can be attributed to the following criteria:
M measured data, observation
A estimation of data
X not clear, to investigate
O unknown, investigation impossible
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Additional information
In Bavaria an event is localised in a GIS data base (HANG) by means of
x/y-coordinates. References to photographs, videos and publications are
merely given, whether they are available or not.
Figure 3: Scheme of the event documentation of Bavaria (2005)
In Austria a digital event data base (WLK) has been in use since 2005. In
this data base the event documentation (flood/debris-flow/avalanche)
can even be conducted by non-experts (e.g. mountain rescue service,
fire brigade, etc.) by means of a web-platform. The integration of rock
falls and slides is intended but has not been implemented yet.
More detailed information is recorded with reference to the sources of
information such as informant and documents with their contents,
authors and the availability of the files. An event is located as a point on
an Austrian Map 1:50000 (ÖK 50).
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Figure 4: Scheme of the event documentation of Austria (2005)
In Switzerland a mapping and documentation of events is conducted, if
possible with photographs and films. The up-to-date data are stored
locally in the cantonal data bases as well as in the federal data base
(StorMe).
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Figure 5: Scheme of the event documentation of Switzerland (2005)
In South Tyrol the event documentation is realised by date entry forms,
mapping on the scales of 1:10.000 or 1:5.000, photographs and
additional documents, if available. All the data and documents are filed
digitally and get georeferenced, actually in all three data base systems:
ED30, IFFI and snow avalanche register.
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Figure 6: Scheme of the event documentation of South Tyrol (2005)
Basic principles of DIS-ALP
Methodology
As part of DIS-ALP a standardised data collection is demanded.
Therefore, the work focuses on developing a classification, as easy as
possible, of the known alpine hazards to groups, which subsequently can
be subdivided. This classification is also supposed to be comprehensible
for non-experts. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the multitude of
existing notions to fundamental terms, which nevertheless enable a
comprehensive description of event types. For this purpose indicators
help to determine translocation processes more in detail. Parameters that
can be expressed by measurement are supposed to be annotated with
the above mentioned MAXO-code.
By defining different investigation standards the extent of information
can be configured. It allows integrating historical sources, determining a
DIS-ALP standard and leaves enough room for investigations going
beyond, which, e.g. for scientists, are a matter of particular interest. It is
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not the task of the event documentation to interpret and analyse the
data.
Figure 7: Structure of the event documentation
The findings can be recorded in check lists or forms. However, it is
important that all spaces that have to be filled in manually have their
correspondence in the data base.
Definitions
For the classification of events and processes various terms have come
into use in the different countries as well as in science. Therefore, within
DIS-ALP, it should be attempted not to break with well-established terms,
but to find common denotations to be able to distinctly attribute events
and processes.
Event
Within DIS-ALP an event is defined as the sum of impacts of one or more
processes, which have a
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• spatial,
• temporal and
• causal
connection and the impacts of which are noticeable, since they exceed
their usual dimension.
In this context an event cannot be equated with exactly one process. In
many cases an event is the addition of several parallel or immediately
successive processes. One initiating process forms the basis for an event.
Events have clearly identifiable starts and ends. An event starts with the
triggering process and ends when the extent of each process involved
lies below its usual degree.
On this top level the events are divided into three groups depending on
the dominantly moved medium. Therefore, the following three groups
can be distinguished.
o snow
o water
o solids
This classification allows a simplified documentation and less effort,
without focusing the documentalist on just one process type from the
start. By this means the loss of certain characteristics and observations, if
these do not apply to a predefined process, can be avoided.
Process groups, processes
According to DIN standard 66201 a process is defined as the
transformation and/or transport of matter and/or energy and/or
information.
Therefore the visual impression of the translocation type can be regarded
as the prime character of a process, which mostly can be perceived by
eye witnesses (and non experts).
Consequently, on a second level, events are grouped according to their
type of translocation.
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Snow event spraying
flowing
Water event running
like debris-
flows
Solid event sliding
falling
Since a documentalist usually cannot observe the type of translocation,
hints given by eyewitnesses are of particular value. Statements made by
observers can be recorded by means of interviews. Information on the
chronological and spatial development of the event is to be collected and
analysed afterwards.
The decisive processes can be deduced from the six process groups.
These are derived from the processes of translocation well known in
practice. However, they are usually differently applied.
As a result the following processes of translocation arise on the third
level (Figure 8):
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Figure 8: Scheme of the classification of processes
Phenomena
The event documentation includes the recording of real facts and
observations, so it refers to something real and comprehensible and
should be free from interpretation and evaluation.
An event which presents itself in terms of a consistently appearing
manner (e. g. physical phenomenon) or spectacle of nature (e. g.
weather phenomenon) is referred to as a phenomenon. Phenomena for
the purpose of the event documentation are events which are observable
and caused by processes, so the processes can be characterised by key
phenomena or “silent witnesses”. Therefore, it is essential that by
means of securing of evidence on site mainly those phenomena are
registered which normally disappear as a result of cleanup and
emergency measures.
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The recording of events from chronicles can also be substantially
improved in its quality, if photo materials or detailed descriptions are
available.
The registration of phenomena is solely made by indicating “yes”, if a
certain phenomenon could be identified or “no”, if the phenomenon did
not occur.
Figure 9: Example of phenomena
Characteristics
Characteristics can be regarded as measurable attributes of phenomena
and thus contribute to quantify processes. Derived parameters are not
the matter of the documentation. They can be identified within the scope
of post proceedings.
Characteristic are recorded as scalar quantities expressed in general SI-
units (e. g. metres, cubic metres) and can have a spatial relation. This is
of particular significance for a connection to a GIS. Characteristics are to
be determined by the MAXO-code to better assess the quality of the
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data. The more attributes about a phenomenon are recorded, the higher
is the information content. With it, of course, the time needed for the
documentation is rising. To reduce the effort, an adequate equipment of
technical devices is necessary.
Collection standards
The DIS-ALP project requires a standardisation of data collection. This
standard can be guaranteed, regarded as the “least common
denominator” of phenomena and characteristics that are to be recorded.
The fundamental documentation, which is based on this standard, allows
a coherent data acquisition and a well structured recording, which can be
used for a continuative and comprehensive analysis of the data. Basing
on it additional information can be collected and filed, depending on the
regional or national demands on event documentation.
In DIS-ALP three different standards for data collection, with a different
scope of content, were defined. A formal interpretation of DOMODIS for
the needs of DIS-ALP was provided by SCHNETZER (2005).
The 3W-standard corresponds to the minimum demands on the analysis
of historical events, whereas the fundamental documentation is based on
the 5W-standard. The 5W+ standard, which is supposed to provide the
basis for detailed analysis, is arranged for experts and scientists. The
demands on documentalists are closely associated with these standards
of data collection.
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Figure 10: Standards for data collection
3W-standard
In general, information about historical events is limited. As a rule, the
further an event dates back, the smaller is the amount of available
information.
Nevertheless, these data should be included into the event chronicle. The
demand for a consistently high standard of documentation is thus
accompanied by the loss of information which can expand the time
frame, even though restrictedly, into the past. Particularly with regard to
long-term strategies like hazard zone mapping and land use planning,
neglecting these data involves a restriction of quality from the beginning
on. However, the effort of utilising historical data must be justified by a
relevant expansion of knowledge. The deciphering and interpreting of a
vernacular vocabulary demand a great effort in the utilisation of historical
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documents. Its value lies in the opportunity to integrate these documents
into a higher platform (e. g. DIS-ALP portal, HANG, StorME, WLK). By
that means substantial information is made easily accessible and
available to a broad public. Defining a “small” standard thus eases the
decision to use a particular historical document. Nevertheless, this
consideration may by no means lead to a general limitation of the topical
documentation or of the utilisation of historical data.
To obtain information the following questions should be answered.
o What happened?
o When did it happen?
o Where did it happen?
Annotation: “what“?
Primarily, information on the predominantly moved substance (event) is
sufficient, so that snow, water or solids should be indicated. If further
information is available the type of translocation (process group) can be
specified.
Annotation: “when“?
The indication of the year is the minimum information needed about the
occurrence and the chronological development of historical events. If
more detailed information is given, also the day can be inferred. Usually
the time of day cannot be found out, but is to be recorded in case it is
given.
Annotation: “where”?
To reference an event a so-called info point has been established,
which is supposed to be approximately in the centre of the damage zone.
Subsequently, a link to several catchment areas can be realised by this
means. This info point will thus be in an area of settlement in most
cases.
If more information is provided, the data can also be recorded. An
approximation to the 5W-standard can thus be achieved.
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5W-standard
The so-called basic documentation according to the 5W-standard is
designed to be conducted by trained persons. It comprises the most
important parameters about the time and the place of an event, the
positioning and a rough description of damage as well as information on
the persons involved in the documentation.
It is of vital importance to chiefly record those phenomena and
characteristics which will be changed or removed by cleanup
measurements. Therefore documentation requires a tight planning of
investigation, a selection of utilities and equipment prior to an event and
a documentalist who is immediately available. It is a key factor to
minimize the time needed for the basic documentation. It is thus
favourable to provide documentalists with checklists, quickly operable
measurement systems and appropriate instruments. Furthermore, it is of
vital importance to train people for the event documentation. To mention
it again, no interpretation of processes is to be made, only the recording
of phenomena and their characteristics.
In the basic documentation the 3W-standard (who, what, where) is
treated much more in detail and a more accurate documentation is
intended. In addition to the 3W-standard the following questions are
dealt with:
o Who made the event documentation?
o How and when was the event triggered off?
Annotation: “who”?
It is an essential element of any documentation to say who has carried
out the investigation. This reference allows drawing conclusions about
the quality of an investigation.
Annotation: “how” and “why”?
The question “how” is supposed to provide information on the method of
an investigation.
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The question “why” includes information on the triggers of an event, e.g.
meteorological phenomena.
For the purpose of the event documentation the question “how” solely
refers to the investigation of phenomena and the specification of their
characteristics.
References to data which are not recorded according to the DIS-ALP
standard are considered as additional information.
5W+ standard
An enhanced documentation of events is less significant than the basic
documentation. In most cases it is carried out by persons who work in
the field of natural hazards and who are highly experienced in the
documentation of events. It will take up days or weeks. Nevertheless, the
emphasis should be put on recording data which is subject to variation.
The enhanced documentation is based on the basic documentation and
thus is a quality check for it at the same time. Again no interpretation is
to be made.
Integration of standards into checklists and data bases
The investigation methods specified above are implemented by forms
and checklists. Forms are focusing on basic parameters and usually give
little room for any additional observation. Checklists can be designed
much more extensively. It is left to national decision makers which
standards of data acquisition are required. In any case, analogue notes
must be easily transferable to a data base.
Therefore, the checklists in the appendix (event reports) merely serve as
a guideline for a uniform documentation of events. They can be
transferred to forms after defining the requirements on the investigation.
Basically, a distinction between different reports, according to the event
(snow, water, solids), is made. A completed data entry form, and thus a
completely recorded event therefore automatically becomes a
standardised report on the observed event.
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To preserve applicability the following three aspects were considered
when the checklists were designed:
o Preservation of objectivity, no statements basing on
interpretations,
o consideration of spatiotemporal conditions for the documentation
of phenomena
o creation of a universally valid design.
As a consequence of the demands on efficient data management, the
digital storing of event reports is indispensable:
o comprehensiveness,
o easy acquisition of information
o limitation of data loss
o prevention of “graveyard data”
The structure designed for the event reports allows a direct matching of
the 5W-standard with the DIS-ALP data base. Based on the methods
presented in this report, a direct incorporation of the information into the
DIS-ALP portal can be guaranteed.
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Checklist DIS-ALP data base 3W 5W
A.1. Basic data - event period [dd.mm.yyyy - dd.mm.yyyy]
Event_start_datetime x x
A.1. Basic data - event period [dd.mm.yyyy - dd.mm.yyyy]
Event_end_datetime x x
A.1. Basic data - event period [dd.mm.yyyy - dd.mm.yyyy]
Event_duration x x
A.1. Basic data - catchment area (official name) Catchment_code x
A.1. Basic data - catchment area (local name) Geographical_name x x
A.1. Basic data - political community Admin_areas x
A.1. Basic data - political district Admin_areas x
A.1. Basic data - internal record number External_documentation_id x x
A.1. Basic data - ducumentalist External_contact_ID x x
A.1. Basic data - organisational unit External_org_code x x
A.1. Basic data - start of investigation [dd.mm.yyyy hh CET]
Investigation_datetime x x
A.2. Investigation type Investigation_type x x
A.2. Investigation method Investigation_method x
A.3. Info point Location_method x
D.1.) Trigger D.1.1.) Meteorological conditions
Event_trigger x
D.1.) Trigger
D.1.1.) Meteorological conditions, additional observations
Event_trigger_description x
E.) Documentation: process group Event_process_group x x
E.2.) Impact E.2.1.) Predominant process type in the mainly affected area
Event_phenomenon x x
E.2.10.) Description of the event in the affected area
Event_description x x
E.2.8.) Deposit volume in the affected area Deposite_volume x x
K.) Registration of damage: buildings Buildings_destroyed Buildings_damaged
x
K.) Registration of damage: traffic and transport Traffic_facilities_destroyed Traffic_facilities_damaged
x
K.) Registration of damage: persons Persons_killed Persons_injured
x
K.) Registration of damage: supply and communication facilities
Supply_facilities_destroyed Supply_facilities_damaged
x
Table 1: Comparison of parameters of the checklist “water” with those of the DIS-ALP data
base for the 3W and 5W standards
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Flow of information and data
Flow of information
Several people with different training are involved in the process of
documentation. However, these people are responsible for the flow of
information and data. Before the actual documentation starts, numerous
people are already involved in the process of notification. Let us assume
that an event is observed by just one witness. If this person regards the
event as unimportant, he or she will not inform anyone but perhaps just
pass it on to his or her circle of friends. If the information is rated to be
more significant, this person will inform someone who he or she
considers to be a suitable addressee for this notification. This can be the
fire brigade, the police, a local councillor or a representative of an
organisation dealing with natural hazards.
From this moment on it is important that the flow of information is well
structured. Finally, just one person has to decide whether an event is
recorded. For this purpose legal and administrative regulations must be
provided, since the event documentation requires resources of personnel,
materials and money. Therefore, the information about an event must
advance from primary contacts to a decision-maker. However, this
procedure must be laid down on a national or regional level.
Decision-makers delegate the documentation to people who have a
respective expert knowledge. Therefore, it is essential that decision-
makers have a list of all persons and companies from which they can
select. It appears to be favourable to fix cost rates in advance.
The documentation on site is followed by the recording of the data into
national (regional) data bases, which is done by the documentalist or by
another person. Results from analyses from the post processing can also
come from a different circle. It is considered to be necessary that the
person who realises the documentation work on location controls the
recorded data in order to avoid any discrepancies and faulty insertions.
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Figure 11: Scheme of the flow of information and data
Reporter
A reporter is someone who has experienced an event at first hand and
who informs a primary contact (organisation or person). A reporter is
thus on site from the beginning of an event. It can be assumed that he
or she has no previous knowledge on the procedure or the contents at
all. A reporter can thus be assigned to the group of “laypersons”. In most
cases a reporter will have good knowledge of the location.
Decision-maker
A decision-maker is a member of a responsible organisation with
respective authority. He or she causes the event documentation to be
made.
Usually decision-makers are not on site. Therefore their information
contains no direct observation. Knowledge of the location cannot be
assumed.
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Documentalist
A documentalist is a person on site who carries out the basic
documentation of an event. The time of arrival at the event location
clearly lies after the beginning of an event, yet as closely as possible.
A documentalist can be assigned to the group of practitioners. It can be
assumed that members of the group of experts (scientists) will take part
in the documentation procedure at a later date.
A skilled documentalist on site has good knowledge on the location and is
able to record the most important characteristics of an event by using
data entry forms (checklists). If he or she has no knowledge on the
location it will be compensated by a close contact to affected people,
witnesses, labourers and organisations working at the location.
Documentalists are not involved in rescue work or cleanup efforts and
can thus work independently.
Preparatory measures
Preparatory measures contain the following procedures:
• setting up of report structures
• regulation of competence
• integration of the event documentation into local relief organisations
• quick availability of skilled personnel
• to organise trainings
• quickly available material (checklists, forms, maps)
• quickly available facilities for the recording
• easily manageable portals for data bases and the web
Order of priority of the investigation
To guarantee a perfect procedure of the documentation and to gain a
maximum of information, priorities must be assigned for the
investigation. Since the documentation proceeds at the same time as
cleanup efforts, however of less importance for the crisis management,
recordings on site will at first be restricted to the essential. However, first
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investigations in the areas of activation and translocation can be made
comparatively freely, just as interviews can be carried out. Somewhat
later the damage zone can be documented in detail without any
difficulties.
Investigations corresponding to the 5W-standard are usually not started
until the end of cleanup efforts.
Figure 12: Scheme of the order of priority of investigations
Investigation phase A
o Recording preferably before the beginning of cleanup efforts
The documentation begins in the damage zone, since emergency
and cleanup measures are usually initiated in this area. Only
phenomena and characteristics that can be observed during or
shortly after an event are to be recorded, since these are altered
or deleted by cleanup and emergency measurements.
Characteristics can be fixed to quantify them in a later phase of
the investigation.
In this report it is assumed that field work in potentially
dangerous areas is only carried out with adequate safety devices.
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o Recording parallel to cleanup efforts
It is favourable to have interviews parallel to cleanup
measurements to get some clues on the event triggers and to
examine photo and video materials. Furthermore, in most cases
the catchment area (i.e. the activation zone) and the
translocation area can be inspected as well as observable
phenomena and their characteristics can be recorded without any
difficulties.
Above that, the prevailing process type of the damage zone can
be determined and the damage can be recorded.
o Investigation after the ending of cleanup efforts
The interaction of a process and protective structures can best be
described after the ending of cleanup efforts, since in most cases
the original condition appears again. In this phase of
investigation interviews are analysed and the answers covered by
them are evaluated. Characteristics which were unapproachable
before the cleanup efforts can now be quantified.
Investigation phase B
Investigation phase B is subject of detailed investigations (5W+
standard). The catchment area can be inspected completely and the
situation can be presented in an investigation report. Similarly, additional
characteristics of the activity zone and the translocation area can be
measured in order to analyse them in the post processing.
Investigation phase C
Data which is collected independently from the event documentation by
other organisations are partly only available for the event documentation
after a check on the raw data. This particularly applies to hydrographical
and meteorological data. In the same way it will take some time to
develop orthophotographs, so that these data cannot be included until
the final stage of the documentation. This activity can be done in an
office for the most part.
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The post-processing, the analysis and interpretation of the data, can
be started with investigation phase B.
Flow of data
The flow of data begins with analogue notes on data entry forms or
checklists. Digital sources of investigation phase A mostly consist of
photo and video material. These data can be filed in structured archives
or stored digitally to be available for a later analysis. Digital collection on
site is especially advisable to record characteristics, whereas a connection
to a GIS is favourable. Respective tools are to be developed.
After the return of the documentalist the data is entered into the national
(regional) data bases. They can also be directly input into the DIS-ALP
portal by means of data upload (see chapter “bulk insert of individual
data”)
The data backup and administration takes place on a national (regional)
level. It must be kept in mind that these data mainly provide a basis for
those people who are locally assigned with the protection from natural
hazards. The collected data must be provided to these people in an
adequate form.
Technical guideline for event documentation
Basic cartographic considerations
Cartographic representation of natural disaster events has to fulfill a variety of requirements, and
these become rather specific when taking the perspective of event documentation:
o intuitivly understandable
o GIS and CAD implementable
o easy to draw manually (in the field !)
o internationally understandable
o scale independent (as far as possible)
o directly representing natural processes
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Considering these requirements a set of rules was defined as guideline:
o Form of symbols should reflect properties of processes
o Color of symbols should distinguish the processes themselves
o Symbols must be easily recognisable against different
backgrounds (e.g. color or black/white aerial photos,
topographical base data)
In more detail color guidelines for process description was outlined:
Figure 13: Color representation rules for different processes
Symbols were defined in detail distinguishing point, line and area
features, differentiated by
o Type of process
o Process phase (process start, transport, accumulation)
o Damages
o Background map (colored vs. non-colored, scale)
Figure 14: Example for linare features differentiated by process phase
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Advantages and disadvantages of symbolisation methods were discussed
in detail with examples of processes pictured against maps of different
background information density, color and scale. This allows for a clear
choice of representation method adapted to requirements of digital
mapping, field work and end-user communication.
Figure 15: Example of processes mapped against colored topographical map at small scale
(1:50.000)
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DIS-ALP Knowledge Base
Knowledge formalisation
The thematic oriented work-packages of DIS-ALP have produced a lot of
information useful for practical purposes in the context of disaster
documentation and beyond:
o Methodology work-package produced detailed classification and
characterisation of alpine natural disaster processes and related
phenomena;
o In the same work-package documentation procedures and
related organisational issues were elaborated;
o Process and phenomena related information were reconsidered
in parallel from a practical point of view in work package
instruction and amended with illustrations and graphics.
These results have been produced as paper reports and are usually – in
comparable project environments – formalised only as glossaries. In
DIS-ALP tbe results listed above were considered for an additional
complementary way of formalisation. A more formalised representation of
knowledge provides several advantages, compared with classical paper
work; among others:
o Automatic processing of knowledge when knowledge is
formalised standard conforming;
o Integration with other sources of formalised knowledge;
o Reasoning capabilities, providing integrity checks of formal
definitions and support for classification of terms.
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Figure 16: Development of formalisation presentations (adapted after METOKIS
D8)
After an attempt to start formalisation with a classical Thesaurus as used
e.g. in UDK (UmweltDatenKatalog) in Germany the deficiencies of this
approach in comparison with ontologies became evident:
o Low degree of formalisation (ontologies provide formalised
definitions of terms with restrictions and preoperties, whereas a
Thesaurus provides only free text scope notes);
o No reasoning capabilities;
o Promising current and future application opportunities when
using ontologies (query support, information and database
matching, …)
DIS-ALP knowledge as ontology
After deciding to use ontologies as formalisation option a solution for
integration into an existing pre-defined and widely accepted ontological
base was thought. Detailed investigations showed that no adequate
formalised knowledge was available in the thematic domain of DIS-ALP.
In contrast well established ontologies had been developed to deal with
more basic concepts (terms), which were recurring and could be used in
many different thematic fields. These ontologies are usually referred to
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as “top-level” ontologies. They start with a top-down definition of terms,
beginning with the most general terms.
As top-level ontology DOLCE (http://www.loa-cnr.it/DOLCE.html) was
choosen, which was initially defined in a Europea research project and is
continously being further developed and refined for different thematic
uses (e.g. legal knowledge). The most important terms defined in DOLCE
and used within the DIS-ALP ontology as link to DOLCE were
o Process
o Phenomenon
o Social role
o Task
Based on these terms the most relevant properties and restrictions were
inherited to DIS-ALP terms and could be thus re-used and refined,
avoiding redundant definition of base terms.
DIS-ALP ontology example
The DIS-ALP ontology was developed using Protégé as tool and OWL
(Ontology Web Language) as representation option.
Figure 17: Example of graphical representation of terms and their basic relations
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DIS-ALP ontology use
Direct use of the DIS-ALP ontology is provided via the DIS-ALP web
portal (portal.dis-alp.org) and is described in detail in the respective
chapter.
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Documentation support
New tools for geo-hazard documentation in the field
and by remote sensing
Introduction
The post-event survey of mountain disasters greatly benefits from the
use of up-to-date technologies. Using modern surveying tools contributes
to fast execution and high accuracy of field measurements and facilitates
the efficient acquisition of data in digital form, easily available for further
analysis. Despite of the utilisation of state of the art field surveying tools
mainly based on GPS- and advanced computer technologies, remote
sensing techniques, due to the great variety of available sensors and
image products can contribute substantially to process analysis, post-
event documentation and disaster relief.
In the context of the DIS-ALP Project, some experiences have been
carried out on the use of different tools that can be employed in the
survey of natural disasters in mountainous areas, additionally the
applicability of remotely sensed information was evaluated with particular
regards of floods and debris flows and other mass movements.
Considered tools are:
• GPS techniques for mapping areas affected by flooding
and sediment deposition
• Mapping techniques with integrated systems of laser
rangefinders and GPS
• Mobile devices for field mapping (Tablet PC, PDA)
• Aerial LIDAR surveying for an enhanced representation
of topography.
• Images aquired by airborne and spaceborne remote
sensing sensors showing different characteristics and
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mapping capabilities in the context of geo-hazard
documentation.
Basic Principles - Experiences
Basic principles of the Global Positioning System (GPS) can be deemed to
be sufficiently known. Here we shortly remind that GPS is a worldwide
radio-navigation system formed from a constellation of satellites and
their ground stations. GPS uses satellites as reference points to calculate
positions. The basis of GPS is triangulation from satellites: to triangulate,
a GPS receiver measures distance using the travel time of radio signals.
To measure travel time, GPS needs very accurate timing; along with
distance, it is also necessary careful monitoring of the orbits in order to
know exactly the position of the satellites in space.
Laser rangefinders are binoculars with an integrated reflectorless
distancemeter, a digital compass and a digital inclinometer. Current
systems can be connected to GPS-devices, enabling the user to map
inaccessible features or remotely located objects from distances up to
1500m (or 4000m, depending on the model). This allows the user to
choose positions that are safe or that provide favourable GPS signal
conditions.
Rugged Tablet PCs and PDAs offer a digital alternative to classic mapping
techniques. Reproducing the traditional method allowing a user to draw
features on a map with a pen the use of these mobile devices typically
requires little training and is easily comprehensible even for personnel
with limited technical background. In connection with wireless data
transmission these systems can be used to acquire and deliver relevant
information close to real time.
Remotely sensed images are acquired by a broad range of sensors
mounted on airborne and spaceborne platforms. Most of the systems are
“passive” i.e. they are mapping the energy/waves radiated by the sun
and reflected off the object on the ground (cameras; panchromatic,
multispectral and hyperspectral scanners). Despite of topographic or
location information, the wavelength-dependent reflection/absorption
features of the materials on the ground are portrayed. Using this
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information, features present in the remotely sensed imagery can be
delineated and classified (e.g. alluvial fans, flood plains). Additionally
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), an active system transmitting and
receiving microwaves, is of special importance for the documentation of
geo-hazards due to its all-weather capability. Using wavelengths of over
2 centimetres, SAR is capable to penetrate clouds and even rainfall. SAR
data is frequently used as a complimentary data set to “classical” remote
sensing information due to the fact that radar is mainly acquiring
information on the physical and electrical properties of the objects (e.g.
surface roughness, moisture), what makes it a powerful tool for the
delineation of flooded areas or areas prone to mass movements. New
SAR technologies, like Interferometric SAR, allows for the measurement
of subtle small movements and therefore for the mapping of mass
movements, glacial features or subsidence. Slope instabilities are
evaluated calculating slope inclination maps, coherences and phase shifts
present in InSAR data. Generally remote sensing techniques can bring
new dimensions to hazard documentation because on the one hand
synoptic and detailed disaster information can be extracted from archives
containing different imagery, dating back approx. 100 years in the case
of airborne information and dating back to the early 1960tiers in the case
of spaceborne imagery. On the other hand event information can be
retrieved which cannot bee seen by the human eye, but is contained in
data mapping the visible to infrared and microwave range of the
electromagnetic spectrum.
LIDAR means Light Detection and Ranging, indicating a laser distance
ranging apparatus (sensor) without any reference to the platform
(terrestrial, aerial, etc.) in which the sensor is mounted. When focusing
on laser scanner apparatus mounted on helicopters or airplanes, it would
be more appropriate to refer to airborne laser altimetry (ALA) or airborne
laser scanning (ALS) technology. In ALS, a laser scanner is mounted on
an aircraft (airplane or helicopter) and is connected with a differential
global position system receiver (DGPS) to determine the absolute aircraft
position, and an inertial navigation system (INS or inertial measurements
unit IMU) capable of defining the pitch, roll and yam (heading) of the
aircraft (Fig. 1). In this way, by connecting a differential GPS with a very
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sensible INS unit, the absolute position and the 3D orientation of the
aircraft in the space and consequently of the laser scanner apparatus can
be known in every time interval.
Figure 18: Schematic overview of Airborne Laser Scanning technology
Implementation – Field trials and Results from the evaluation of the applicability of modern remote sensing techniques
Several tests have been carried out in the field for comparing the
performances of different GPS systems in the survey of floods and debris
flows in alpine torrents. The instruments used range from low-cost
receivers to rather expensive topographic GPS: the following systems
were used:
o Tom Tom Navigator 3 wireless GPS linked to a palmtop HP iPAQ
h1940 Pocket PC;
o HOLUX GPSlim 236 wireless GPS linked to MDA-Pro Palmtop
o Trimble Pathfinder Pocket Receiver linked to a palmtop CompaQ
IPAQ palm PC;
o Trimble GEO Explorer;
o Leica GPS System GS20
o Leica GPS System 500 model SR 530;
o GEOTOP TOPCON Legacy E.
o Leica Laser Locator
o T-Mobile MDA Pro Palmtop Computer
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o Xplore iX104C2 rugged Tablet PC
The test areas were selected on the alluvial fans of some torrents of
Eastern Italian Alps and some easily recognizable features in the
Wienerwald region 20km west of Vienna/Austria; the test consisted in
walking the same path using different GPS receivers or mapping them
using additional devices. The performance was evaluated by considering
the differences between the tracks surveyed using various GPS receivers
and comparing them with ground “truth”; an analysis of PDOP (Point
Dilution of Precision) values was also carried out. The main results are
summarised below.
TomTom Navigator 3 wireless GPS was designed as a receiver for in-
car navigation. Its use in the present study was aimed at evaluating the
possible performance of a simple, low-cost instrument in post-event
survey of torrent disasters. An advantage of TomTom Navigator 3
wireless GPS is the blue tooth connection with a Palmtop PC: this avoids
possible problems due to the presence of a cable connecting the receiver
to data acquisition system. The results of the tests indicate a low
accuracy of the measurements. Although the loss of accuracy within
forest stands and in urban areas is a common problem of GPS, TomTom
Navigator 3 wireless GPS is more sensible than other instruments to
these disturbances. This receiver does not permit differential correction.
For these reasons, the use of this type of instruments should generally
not be recommended in the survey of mountain disasters.
The HOLUX GPSlim 236 represents the newest generation of GPS-
consumer devices and is equipped with the SIRF Star III GPS-Chip.
During the tests the GPSlim 236 produced very robust and reliable
results. Under difficult conditions (heavy foliage, signal reflections) it
even displayed higher robusness than professional GPS solutions like the
Leica GS20. Advantages of the GPSlim 236 are the wireless Bluetooth
connection, the changeable battery and the small size. The main
disadvantage of the GPSlim 236 is that it is not EGNOS/WAAS enabled.
GPS Trimble Pathfinder Pocket Receive: linked to CompaQ IPAQ palm
PC. Some observations on the use of this instrument have been
presented in paragraph 2.1.1. The instrument is handy and its
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performance is generally adequate for post-event surveys when high
accuracy in the measurement of elevation is not required. It can offer a
good compromise between cost and performance. Possible drawbacks
are the cable connection between the receiver and the palmtop PC, the
terminal is not waterproof and is rather sensitive to shocks.
Rugged case and sunlight display make the Trimble GEO Explorer very
suitable for use in the field; the performance of this instrument seems to
be satisfactory for post-event surveys in alpine torrents.
Both topographic GPS systems used in the tests (Leica GPS System
500 and GEOTOP TOPCON Legacy E) are suitable for post-event surveys
of mountainous disasters. The use of Glonass satellites is a valuable
characteristic of GEOTOP TOPCON Legacy E.
The Leica GS20 GPS is especially useful when used combined with the
Leica Laser Locator. This system enables the documenting personnel to
map features in inaccessible or dangerous environments from the
distance. Due to the large range of the Laser rangefinder (up to 1500m)
the system enables the user to perform mapping tasks in a highly
productive manner. There exists a completely streamlined process from
preparatory operations to data acquisition, postprocessing and data
export in common exchange formats like ESRI-shapefiles or dxf-files.
The main drawbacks of the system are the high prize and the fact that
the quality of the mapping results depends heavily on the accuracy of the
determination of the local declination value. This deviation of geographic
and magnetic north varies significantly in space and time. Other sources
of error are all kinds of magnetic fields that may influence the
determination of the azimuth. Professional GPS-devices like the Leica
GS20 are normally equipped with a metal ground plate shielding the GPS
receiver from signals reflected from the ground. Although this feature
enhances the quality under favorable conditions it results in the earlier
loss of the GPS-Position in difficult environments compared to systems
without signal reflection shields.
The tests of the Xplore rugged Tablet PC and the MDA Pro palmtop
computer showed that both types of devices have the potential to
increase the productivity in post event documentation. The necessary
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efforts of preparatory operations like the production of mapping material
and post processing tasks like digitizing can be reduced significantly.
There exist out of the box solutions for wired an wireless scenarios for
the Tablet PC as well as for the PDA. In the case of UMTS/GPRS
connectivity it could be shown that the user experience of thin clients on
PDAs getting all the data over the wireless connection is acceptable.
Advantages of the Tablet PC are a user experience similar to the desktop
PC and high storage capacities enabling the user to carry vast amounts
of data in the field. Drawbacks are the weight of 1.5 to 2kg and the high
price. Advantages of the PDA are mainly the small size and weight and
the high integration factor. Many systems are integrating mobile phone,
camera, GPS and PDA. The main drawbacks of PDAs are the reduced
speed, the reduced stability, the small display and the high energy
consumption compared to the battery capacity (especially when wireless
connections are used).
The analysis of LIDAR data carried out in the DIS-ALP Project regarded
two test areas of the Eastern Italian Alps. One product is represented by
high-fidelity filtered dataset (in which the filtering of non bare-earth
characteristics was improved manually) reporting ground elevations of
the Agozza basin (Figure 19), located in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region.
This dataset is available thanks to the University of Udine, which
collected data in relation to the European project INTERREG IIIA Phare
CBC Italy-Slovenia – Action 3.2.4. The surveyed area, is characterized by
very complex topography with relevant changes in elevations, ranging
from 900 and 2500 m a.s.l within an area of about 6 km2. Most of the
basin is characterized by a dense forest cover.
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Figure 20: The second LIDAR product consists of a raw points cloud
representing surface heights (bare-earth, buildings, trees, etc.) of the
partly urbanised Predazzo area (Province of Trento). The surveyed area
includes the small town of Predazzo (Province of Trento), located on the
alluvial fan of the Travignolo Torrent, a stretch of the valley of the
receiving stream and the lower parts of the slopes. This area is
characterized by dense vegetation cover on mountain slopes. The
topography is moderately rugged and the elevation ranges from 900 to
1500 m a.s.l.
Figure 19: a) Orthophoto of the Agozza area, the perimeter of the basin of interest is
outlined; b) 3D terrain model of the Agozza basin (units in meters).
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Figure 20: a) Shaded relief map of the digital surface model of the Predazzo area; b) 3D
terrain model of the Predazzo area (units in meters).
An exploratory analysis has been carried out in order to devise tools
(statistical indexes and graphical utilities) useful for acquiring familiarity
with aerial LIDAR data set. A useful procedure, especially when using
filtered data, is to calculate elevation points spatial density using a
moving windows approach. In this way, it is possible to analyze how
LIDAR points spatial density changes along the surveyed area and
depending on the ground cover type. Superimposing spatial density maps
to orthophotos enhances the spatial distribution of data. These tools
make it easy to detect areas of poor coverage, choose the correct radius
for interpolation and detect pattern in data spacing generated by the
survey procedures. When using filtered dataset, it is worthwhile to
analyse, for selected locations, elevations data in correspondence with
buildings, water surfaces, and streets to check for failure in filtering
algorithms and lack of data due to target reflectance. Moreover, it has
been noted that some errors/artefacts can be correctly identified by
analyzing preliminary digital surface models. As an example, shaded
relief maps can be superimposed to orthophotos.
The main operation with LIDAR point data is to derive digital elevation
models. Considering the high density of spatial sampling and the extent
of the modelled area, simple interpolation algorithms such as
triangulation , natural neighbour, and inverse distance weighted (IDW)
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give good results. Clearly, attention should be paid in areas with lower
point density where triangulation could generate artefacts and a natural
neighbour algorithm could perform better. These algorithms are not
really computer intensive. If the area of interest is small and a high level
of accuracy is required, interpolation tools like splines or geostatistical
tools (various form of automated kriging, in particular local kriging) could
grant better results (although they are more computer and user
demanding).
Hardware and software issues have also been considered. The large size
of LIDAR data files implies that adequate storage capacity (hard disk,
DVD media reader-writer) is required on PC. It also important to
remember that the graphic card is essential to visualize data quickly and
to the 3D display of the highly-detailed DEMs created by interpolating
LIDAR points. All the calculations and manipulations of data were
performed on a Laptop computer, running a 2 GHz Celeron processor
with 640 Mb of RAM. Compared to machines currently available, with 3.5
GHz processor and 2 Gb of RAM, the PC used is evidently less powerful.
The tests carried out in this study show that the processing of LIDAR
data for small areas, such as those corresponding to alpine torrents and
alluvial fans, can be performed also by means of low-cost PCs available
also for junior professionals and technical offices of local administrations.
Because of the large size of the files, the visualization and editing of
LIDAR data files may prove difficult. Word processors like Notepad,
Wordpad, Microsoft Word, Openoffice Writer do not work properly with
such large files: the editing becomes tedious and sometimes causes the
code to crash. Word processors like “Textpad” (in MS Windows) or
“Emacs” (in Unix – Linux systems) perform better. Problems also arise
when using worksheet programs like MS Excel or Openoffice
spreadsheet. For example, Excel limit has a limit of 65.000 rows, which
are obviously not sufficient to manage LIDAR data. A better choice could
be the Surfer worksheet which, depending on the resources of the PC
used, can manage up to 1 billion rows. Nevertheless, you have to be
aware that even if it is possible to load data in a worksheet like Surfer,
the editing and the saving of the modified file could be a long task. To
perform some simple file editing (i.e. truncate decimal digit, change the
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file from space delimited to comma delimited, deleting columns, etc.) it is
more efficient to build small custom codes. The storage of points cloud
files becomes easier using database tables (MS Access, Mysql, Postgres).
The evaluation of the applicability of modern remote sensing techniques
showed that there is a great variety of data usable for hazard
documentation. In the last years the accessibility of remotely sensed
image information improved substantially. Most of the data archives can
be accessed directly by internet and the relevant information, like ground
coverage, image quality, date and time of acquisition etc. can be
retrieved easily and quick looks of the images can be displayed directly
on the screen. “Historic data”, depending on the provider, is available
within some days, actual data – especially in the case of major disasters
– within hours (e.g. UN charter “Space and Major Disasters). Image data
showing a very high ground resolution is in the meantime not limited to
the “airborne sector” but can also be provided by spaceborne platforms
like FORMOSAT (2 m), EROS-A (1,9 m); IKONOS (1 m), ORBVIEW-3 (1
m) and QUICKBIRD (61 cm). Images taken by classical camera systems
and digital cameras as well as images acquired by panchromatic and
multispectral scanners are in most of the cases provided in formats (e.g.
tiff, jpg, ecw) which can be handled and referenced by standard mapping
software already used in the sector of natural hazard prevention and
control (e.g. AUTOCAD, ARCGIS). Only when using Synthetic Aperture
Radar (SAR) images and hyperspectral information special remote
sensing software packages like Erdas/Imagine, ENVI etc. must be used.
Even very high resolution satellite imagery can be purchased on a
reasonable price. IKONOS data sells at 20 to 30 US$ per Sq. km,
QUICKBIRD data at 16 to 45 US$ per square km depending on pre-
processing level (e.g. orthorectified) and mode of data handling and
delivery (e.g. “rush tasking”).
The evaluation of the literature and an internet search showed that
remote sensing techniques are already frequently used in hazard
documentation. The documentation and monitoring of flood events is
mainly done by using time series of high resolution airborne imagery, by
the interpretation of high resolution spaceborne sensors operating in the
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visible to near infrared range and by Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
techniques. Mass movements are monitored using “classical” sensors as
well as state of the art methods of Interferometric SAR (InSAR). InSAR is
also used for snow and glacier mapping. Up to now multispectral and
hyperspectral information is in only very view cases used in hazard
documentation although these data would be very well suited for the
delineation of alluvial fans and for the classification of sediments and
vegetation cover.
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Figure 21: Example of an inquiry for high-resolution QUICKBIRD imagery of the Danube-
March area in eastern Austria using the archive tool provided by Digitalglobe
(www.digitalglobe.com).
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Recommendations
The results of field experiences make it possible to outline some advices
regarding the use of GPS in just-post event survey of mountain disasters.
Topographic GPS systems are quite expensive. By contrast, portable GPS
are rather cheap and an office/department can buy several instruments
for simultaneous use in different sites: this is important when limited
time is available for post-event surveys (e.g. because of the removal of
sediment deposited on alluvial fans). The main advantage of topographic
GPS is their precision in the measurement of elevation, which allows GPS
to replace standard topographic surveys for many applications. In post-
event observations of mountain disasters this regards, for instance, the
changes of cross-sections and longitudinal profiles of channels and the
assessment of eroded and deposited sediment volumes. As far as the
execution times are concerned, if the tracking-log mode is activated,
topographic GPS require the same time as portable GPS, but ensure a
much higher accuracy. The only difference is the initial time required for
installing and setting up the master receiver, which can be estimated to
about 20’. A practical limitation in the operation of topographic GPS in
the survey of mountain disasters could consist in the need of a safe place
for the installation of the antenna used as Master receiver (this might not
be easy in the emergency phase). Acquisition of the coordinates
corresponding to fixed reference points (Mess Punkt, Verm Punkt) is
recommended because it provides a check on the accuracy of GPS
surveys and allows them to be superimposed on previous topographic
surveys. Preliminary observations of the area to be surveyed and a
careful choice of the path make the GPS survey faster and contribute to
its success. Topographic GPS systems make it possible to carry out
complete topographic surveys: the assessment of deposited volumes is
thus possible by comparing the surfaces surveyed before and after the
event. It is necessary that the ellipsoidic elevation of the studied area
(e.g. from aerial laser scan) is available for before-event conditions.
When using portable GPS, no reliable measurement of elevation is
possible. It is possible, however, to survey the horizontal coordinates of a
number of points within the deposit and assign the thickness of the
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deposits as an attribute. A digital model of the thickness of deposits can
then be implemented, thus permitting an estimate of volumes deposited.
With regard to the use of LIDAR data, some considerations are presented
hereafter.
o Many factors influence the success and quality of a LIDAR
survey. For this reason, when acquiring LIDAR data, it is
necessary to obtain all the survey specifications. In particular,
the accuracy of the final LIDAR product should be evaluated
separately for each main land cover type characterizing the
surveyed area. Errors can arise also in the filtering process and
special care should be paid in using LIDAR data in forested area.
o The quality of the analysis and processing of LIDAR data
increases when supported by other data sources (for example
orthophotos or cartography) and by manually edited data.
When carefully filtered, LIDAR data permit to build high resolution and
accurate digital terrain models with relatively fast survey also in forested
area. These detailed digital elevation models could be then analysed by
means of various techniques (visual analysis of shaded relief maps, 3D
visualizations, calculation of morphological and spatial variability indexes,
etc.) and allow to perform quantitative comparisons between pre-disaster
and post-disaster digital terrain models characterized by the same
accuracy and resolution.
The evaluation of the applicability of remote sensing data for the
documentation of natural hazards showed that suitable data in the
meantime can be easily accessed via Internet, purchased at reasonable
prices, and using standard formats can easily be integrated in GIS and
mapping software like AUTOCAD and ARCGIS. Considering the great
advantages of remotely sensed information for hazard documentation
and mapping purposes they should be used more frequently within
hazard documentation procedures and post-event documentation.
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Instruction
Introduction
An important basis for homogenous results of the documentation process
is the preparation of easy to use common instruction materials. These
materials were developed as portable field guides.
Field Guide
This manual for the documentation of natural disasters was designed to
be a handout for courses as well as a reference book for field work.
Introduction includes organisational principles and elements of an optimal
documentation.
Modules of an optimal documentation as defined in the field guide are:
o Forms and check-lists in order to ease standardisation
o Documentation of background information (geography,
meteorological conditions, damages, protection works)
o Maps, drafts and photo documentation
o Level of detail of documentation (as defined by requirements of
contracting authority)
o Field equipment
The main part of the field guide is dedicated to the most important
phenomena of floods/debris flows, landslides/slope-type debris flows,
rockfall processes and snow avalanches. They are shortly are explained
and illustrated with numerous photographs and drawings.
This field guide complements from a practical point of view the results of
WP methodology. Phenomena or characterised in a standardised way so
that field work can easily be accomplished after a short instruction phase:
o Introduction to phenomenon
o Characteristics of effects
o Visible effects and their relative locations
o Documentation content for each category of visible effects
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Figure 22: Example of phenomena documentation description of field guide
Short description of phenomenon
WHAT should be documented
HOW does it happen
Example photographs
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Projects in schools “Dealing with natural hazards”
Introduction
A part of the project DIS-ALP focuses on the informing and sensitizing of
the public in regard to natural hazards, affecting the everyday life in the
Alps.
In this context the Department of Water Protection of the Autonomous
Province of Bolzano / Southtyrol is keen on acting towards sensitisation
of the young generation. Projects in compulsory schools and high schools
shall help to understand the necessity of protective structures, to outline
the ever remaining risk and to communicate a wise dealing with natural
hazards.
Generally it is not easy for school-outsider, as for example for officers,
civil servants or specialists, to work out an advisable and exciting
program indicated for students dealing with such a highly specialized
topic. This also or especially applies to the topic of alpine natural
hazards.
In the framework of the EU-project DIS-ALP in connection to the work
package public relations most of the attention was paid to this difficulty:
in order to establish the right approach of students with this topic we
decided to carry out with them several actions themed „Dealing with
natural hazards”. From these experiences best practices could be derived
and implemented into a teaching concept indicated for students.
Principles of working with elementary and high school students
The transmission of basic knowledge and demonstration of practical,
handy examples should help the students to have a better insight into
the topic of natural hazards. Since there was not given much time for
every school class, every action should have something special,
impressive and unforgettable”! Therefore it was important to elaborate a
special teaching unit.
On designing the teaching units and single actions, the different
principles were adopted depending on the school-type:
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o Working outdoor by using all senses. The receptivity and capacity
of understanding new topics shall be reinforced and increased by
physical and mental impressions.
o Avoid too great number of students
o Playful and funny approaches to the topic, playful learning
o Designing the teaching units close to reality and practice
o Pick up existing knowledge
These were the followed principles. Their weighting was quantified
differently action by action.
Figure 23: Playful and funny approaches to the topic, playful learning: generally known
games have learning targets, which can easily be adapted to the specific topic: Students
tinker a „natural-hazard-dice“
Excursion on half a day with elementary school classes
During an excursion lasting half a day to the debris flow “Wieser Lahn” in
Jenesien/Nobels (Southtyrol), impressions of the formation of our alpine
landscape have been conveyed to the students. By analyzing the
landscape, the students realised, that our surrounding is in a natural
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permanent transformation process. By examples on site, the students
understood how human beings protect themselves from natural hazards.
The students learned in a playful way how to observe and interpret
traces and signals of the nature. In that way, the students learned to
respect and understand the nature. Man can protect himself from natural
hazards up to a certain degree, but there is no total protection.
Teaching unit with selected high school classes
Short insights into the theoretical basics of natural hazards and risk
management have been provided to the students. In order to create an
interesting teaching unit, realistic exercises have been worked out, where
the students could try to recognize the different hazard types by
themselves and during a role play they also could reflect how to deal
with natural hazards in populated areas. These exercises provided a
connection from the theory to the practice and called on the students to
think logically and observe everything in detail also outside of the school.
Outlook
The collected experiences from the different actions at the compulsory
and high schools showed, that the young generation is absolutely
interested in this topic and that a sensitization to these complex problems
can be achieved. The schools are engaged in collaborating also in the
future with experts and specialists from the sector. Especially the
teachers were interested in collaboration and asked for an advanced
training. However it has also to be mentioned that in order to provide a
sustainable sensitization, the topic has to be fully integrated in to the
teaching program of the schools. Thereby the key points vary depending
on the type and level of schools.
For this reason the Department of Water Protection (Autonomous
Province of Bolzano) envisages the elaboration of a guideline together
with the teachers and school authorities. This guideline should show how
to definitely anchor this topic into the course of instruction of the schools
and which are the right methods to adopt and key points to introduce.
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Implementation
Introduction
The assessment of natural hazards consists in an objective and
methodologically sound analysis of potential hazardous processes
(Heinimann et al. 1998). The assessment of potential hazards requires
the evaluation of former and the prediction of future geomorphologic
processes. Thus, potential hazards can be identified and localized on the
basis of former events, on the basis of the terrain analysis and by means
of process simulation models (Kienholz et al. 2004). The im-pact of
former events can be assessed on the basis of the analysis of silent
witnesses (Aulitzky 1992) or on the basis of the analysis and evaluation
of historical documents and notes. The in-formation about former events
is collected and documented systematically over long-term periods in
appropriated databases (event cadastres). Core elements of an event
cadastre are particulars about the type of a natural hazard event, about
the date and course of the event, about the locality, about socioeconomic
consequences and damages, about the management during the event,
about the weather and atmospheric conditions before and during the
event and about the observer. An event cadastre usually stores only
objective facts about former events and does exclude interpreted data
(Heinimann et al. 1998, Hübl et al. 2002). The interpretation of this
objective data occurs in the context of hazard assessment.
Hazard events in the Alps have been documented systematically and
stored in databases since the 1970ies. For many regions and basins,
long-term observations of precipitation, temperature, discharge or other
environmental parameters are not or only in a moderate extent available
for the use in hazard assessment. Furthermore, in the observation
periods extreme events could only rarely be observed. Or, series of
measurements often show data gaps due to the destruction of the
measurement instrument during extreme events. Thus, hazard
assessment based only on measured data can lead to false estimations.
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In these cases, systematically documented historical natural hazard
events can be a valuable enhancement of the existing data needed for
the hazard assessment (Barnikel 2004).
In this report, historical events are defined as natural hazard events
dated before the beginning of the systematic documentation and
compilation of natural hazard events in specific databases. From silent
witnesses (after Aulitzky 1992) or prehistoric natural hazard events,
historical events are distinguished by a written or unliteral
documentation. From recently documented events, historical events are
differentiated by a non-systematic documentation and archiving process.
Compilation and documentation of historical natural
hazard events
Procedure for the compilation and documentation of historical natural hazard events
Within the framework of Dis-Alp, different studies fort the compilation
and documentation of historical events were realized by the participants.
In the Free State of Bavaria, a state-wide research of historical
documents with information about natural hazards in the archives of,
local authorities (Water Management Offices, communities) was made in
the Bavarian alpine region.. The information was stored systematically in
a database. In the federal state of Salzburg, historical natural hazard
events were collected and stored systematically also state-wide. In the
Autonomous Province of Trento, the triggering conditions, the
geomorphologic effects and the produced damages of the large debris
flow event occurred in the Chieppena Torrent on November 4th, 1966
were analyzed. In the Autonomous Province of Bolzano South Tyrol, a
debris flow event in the Tinne Torrent occurred on August 9th, 1921 was
reconstructed and a chronology of historical events in the Vipiteno Basin
and Bressanone Basin was compiled. In this report, the methods used in
these studies are summarized and synthesized. For a complete citation of
these studies see chapter “Resources”. All of these studies incorporate
the following procedure:
o Definition of the objectives of the study
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o Research for historical documents − archives
o Interpretation of historical sources and extraction of the relevant
information
o Systematic processing of the information and compilation in the
specific database
o Description of the results
Definition of the objectives of the study
The amount of time needed for the localization of historical sources and
the choice of the method used for the reconstruction of historical natural
hazard events depends on the defined objectives of the study. Inversely,
the objectives of the study are determined be the level of de-tail of the
existent sources. Some sources allow only a chronological listening of
roughly documented historical natural hazard events in a delimited area,
whereas other sources allow a de-tailed reconstruction of a certain event.
For the choice of the method and the adaptation of the expenditure of
time to the expected benefits of the research, the definition of the study
objectives and the delimitation of the study area is required. Regarding
the spatial aspects, historical research can be made on regional scale
with little detail for a wide area or on local scale with more detail for a
closely delimited area. Regarding the considered time-scale, historical
research can be focused on the compilation of a chronology of events or
on the detailed documentation of one single event. Thus, following
primary objectives could be defined:
o the compilation of a chronology of historical natural hazard
events in an administrative unit,
o the detailed reconstruction of one single event.
Depending on the defined objectives of the study, different sources or
archives are to be considered. Pointing out the objectives explicitly
facilitates the evaluation of the results and the comparison with other
studies.
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Historical sources and archives
In addition to geophysical instrumentation and dating methods, historical
sources can be utilized for the reconstruction and documentation of
historical events. Sources are defined generally as legacies and written
heritages of former generations. In presence, these sources can be
consulted and interrogated from the point of view of a specific interest.
The information in historical sources has to be made accessible and
appraised throughout a critical review, because the inten-tion of the
source usually had not be focused exclusively on the systematic
documentation of natural hazard events for future generations.
Generally, historical sources can be differentiated between contemporal
and non-contemporal sources. In addition to this differentiation, historical
sources can be divided into printed material, handwritten material,
inscriptions and markers, maps, graphical material and verbal
transmissions (Deutsch & Pörtge 2001).
source type description
printed material chronicles
country reports
pamphlets
travel reports
newspapers
periodicals
annals
etc.
handwritten material chronicles
diaries and journals
visitation reports
tax reports
reports of damages
administration acts
tribunal acts
accounting acts
meeting and inspection protocols
gauge reports and measuring journals
hydraulic engineering and planning reports
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letters and personal documents
religious notes
torrent- and avalanche cadastre
etc.
inscriptions and markers inscriptions
water level markers
floor heightening of buildings
house entrances under basement level
etc.
maps and construction drawings inundation maps
embankment maps
river maps
cadastral maps
construction drawings
etc.
graphical material village sights
copper engravings
river sights
paintings
drawings
photographs
etc.
verbal transmissions testimonies reports
legends
myth’s
sagas
etc.
Table2: Types of sources (after Deutsch & Pörtge 2001, extended on the basis of the
studies elaborated within the framework of Dis-Alp).
The studies elaborated within the framework of Dis-Alp pointed out the
following archives as useful for the research for historical sources:
o archives of the regional authorities with competencies for natural
hazard and disaster management
o archives with technical reports of projects for planning of
mitigation measures
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o regional libraries and archives
o national libraries and national archives
o national databases
o archives of local authorities (cities and communities)
o archives of rectorates
o archives of civil protection organisations (fire brigades, polices,
civil protection authorities)
o private archives
The search for historical documents is to be made in different archives
depending on the objectives of the study. The studies elaborated within
the framework of Dis-Alp pointed out extreme differences in the
existence of historical sources in the archives of the municipalities. In
some archives could be found very valuable documents, whereas in other
archives could be found nothing relevant for the documentation of
natural hazard events. Thus, in this report no generally valid procedure
for the research could be pointed out. In general, only in archives of
important administration authorities (national, regional or city level)
historical sources are archived systematically. The search for historical
sources in the unsystematic administrated archives of small municipalities
is very time-consuming, but often indispensable for the compilation of
the desired information. Historians and historical educated experts whose
are familiar with the regional particularities are indispensable for the
research and evaluation of historical documents. They can abridge the
time needed for the localisation of historical sources and can avoid
misinterpretation. Furthermore, the transcription of historical documents
by historians is an essential precondition for the access to the content of
older documents.
Interpretation of historical sources and extraction of the relevant
information
In addition to the research for historical documents, the viewing, sorting
and evaluating the sources is time-consuming too. The meaningfulness of
historical documents must be assessed by evaluating the framework of
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content and the transmission conditions of the media itself. By evaluating
the framework of content, the origin of the source must be clarified
asking for the locality, the time period, the author and the version. This
information is indispensable for the interpretation of the source within
the historical context. The transmission conditions and the authenticity of
the source can be evaluated by asking for the intention of the document
and by comparing the content with other sources. Contemporal sources
are to prefer to non contemporal sources and duplications. Contemporal
sources contain fewer errors because of the originality of the content.
Compilations of different sources like chronologies often had been
assembled by combining different sources, reliable and unreliable ones.
Thus, the reliability of source compilations is more difficult to evaluate
than of monographs. This type of sources except those ones compiled by
historians must be evaluated by means of a comparison with other
documents with analogical content. The most reliable information about
historical events can be found in official documents from offices for water
resources management or from municipalities written by professionals in
their fields. This type of documents contains information about the
meteorological background and a detailed description of the observed
damages, whereas detailed description of the event itself and his
chronology is missing. Documents from private persons sometimes
contain very valuable information about the chronological process of an
event. Like declarations from testimonials, this information has to be
scrutinized with caution. In addition to the consideration of the intention
and the context of the document, regional and linguistic particularities
have to be concerned. For example the term “high water” often is used
for a high water level in the river channel or for a flood event too.
Attention has to be given to former specifications for measuring
dimensions. The research for and the evaluation of historical documents
preferably has to be undertaken by historians or historical educated
experts who are familiar with the regional particularities. The systematic
compilation and analysis of the information gained by historians should
be made by specialists for natural hazard assessment or engineers. The
extraction of the information about natural hazard events from historical
sources is restricted regarding the completeness of the content. After
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Glaser (2001), from historical documents it is not possible extracting the
information desired from the today’s point of view, but it is possible
extracting only the reliable information of the document considered. The
amount of extractable information is depending on the structure and the
intention of the source. The consideration of local particularities led to a
better understanding and evaluation of the historical sources. A
prerequisite for the systematic documentation of historical events, as
valid for event documentation in general, is that only facts and no
interpretations have to be stored in the appropriate databases. Although
in practice, interpretation in event documentation is not totally excludable
because of the nature of geomorphologic events. In general, the
following information can be gathered from historical sources and
documents:
o information about the type of event (type of process,
answer to the question WHAT)
o information about the date (answer to the question
WHEN)
o information about the process area (answer to the
question WHERE)
o information about the course and the chronology of the event,
about the consequences and damages, about the risk
management (answer to the question HOW)
o information about the weather conditions before and during the
event and about causes and triggering processes (answer to the
questions WHY)
o information about the observer (answer to the question WHO)
For the compilation of a historical natural hazard event in the regional
event database, the minimal information about the process type, the
date and the locality of an event is required. This information fulfils the
general prerequisites for event documentation. The gathered information
about historical natural hazard events usually is archived and stored
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systematically in the appropriate database for event documentation or
media documentation of the regional administration authorities. The
original source must be cited in the event information. The access to the
original sources has to be guarantied for further use in hazard
assessment. Here, for the valid standards for event documentation is
referred to the specific regional regulations and standards. Minimal
requirements are defined by the results of the DOMODIS and Dis-Alp
projects. In the Dis-Alp project, technical standards and data models for
the compilation of historical events in databases have been worked out.
Historical events seldom could be localized and delimitated exactly. Non
two-dimensional de-limitable events have to be localized spatially by
means of points (pair of geographical coordinates). For the localization of
natural processes with an uncertain spatial extent there exist two
approaches: Firstly, an event can be localized through the supposed
centre of the process area or the supposed centre of the administrative
unit, where most of the damages occurred. Secondly, an event can be
localized through the supposed triggering point or the highest point of
the sup-posed triggering area. The choice for the localization approach
depends on the systematic and regulations of the regional event
documentation. In the case of historical events, the first approach is to
prefer because of the lack of information about the triggering areas.
Description of the results
The main results of the research for historical natural hazard events
consist in the compilation of the event documentation databases of the
regional administration authority. After the insertion of the documented
events, the compiled chronology of events and the used sources into the
database, the results of the study can be printed systematically by using
pre-formatted reports. Thus, the final report could be relatively short but
contains the following minimal chapters:
o objectives of the study,
o documentation of the method,
o synthesis of the results,
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o main conclusions.
Opportunities and limitations for the documentation of historical natural hazard events
The compilation of event chronologies enables the analysis of former
dangerous processes. Whit it, dangerous processes and the areas
affected by dangerous processes can be identified and localized. The
characteristics of former processes can be described and the
reoccurrence period can be estimated. Thus, the systematic
documentation of historical natural hazard events contributes to the
assessment of recent and potential future processes. Furthermore,
objective information about former processes can be used in risk
communication. Although these opportunities, during the interpretation
of this information the following particulars have to be kept in mind:
o The documentation of historical events contains only qualitative
descriptions.
o In past times, only events with a certain process magnitude or
events with relevant damages had been described and
documented.
o Changes within the system man-environment since the
documented historical event have to be considered. For example,
some flood events as described in historical documents can not
occur today because of anthropogenic or natural modifications of
the river channel like channel straightening and silting up or
erosion of the river bed. Sys-tem changes due to climate
changes since the “little ice age” have to be considered, too.
o Temporal and spatial shifts or changes of the damage potential
since the documented historical events have to be considered in
risk analysis.
The studies elaborated within the framework of Dis-Alp synthetically
pointed out the following opportunities and limitations for the
documentation of historical natural hazard events:
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objective opportunities limitations
compilation of a chronology of
natural hazard events in an
administrative unit
identification and localization of
endangered areas
identification of endangered objects
help for the estimation of the
reoccurrence interval
risk communication
information of the public
only qualitative process description
available
few information about the magnitude
of processes available
no documentation of processes with
low magnitudes or without related
damages available
no transferability of particulars of one
event to others in neighboured
regions possible
no exact spatial delimitation of events
possible
reconstruction of one single
historical natural hazard event
information about the temporal
development of one single event
information about the process
characteristics
spatial delimitation about the run out
areas
assessment of the amount of and the
spatial allocation of damages
assessment of potential future
consequences
derivation of spatial characteristics or
environmental parameters for
subsequent process simulations
verification of simulation results
assessment of the magnitude and
intensity of dangerous processes
foundation of the hazard assessment
information of the public
mainly qualitative or semiquantitative
information about historical events
available
few information about the triggering
areas or about the basin of natural
processes available
exact spatial delimitation only
through the interpretation of
photographs possible
Table 3: Opportunities and limitations for the documentation of historical natural hazard
events.
Although these and further limitations for the interpretation and analysis
of historical events, the acquired information can enhance the existing
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fundamental data needed for natural hazard assessment in a valuable
dimension. Due to the mainly qualitative information about the undesired
consequences of dangerous processes, this kind of information can be
understood easily and unambiguously by the public. Thus, beside the
applications in technical risk management, the analysis of historical
natural hazard events can be particularly helpful in risk communication.
Experiences of historical natural hazard events documentation
(Institute of Mountain Risk Engineering – IAN, BOKU)
Besides the above mentioned participants, the Institute of Mountain Risk
Engineering at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life
Science in Vienna (BOKU) also conducted a compilation of natural hazard
events information. The academic library of the institute owns a
handwritten chronicle, dealing with floods and torrential devastations,
landslides, debris flows and rockfalls in Tyrol and Vorarlberg up to 1891.
Referring to Stiny (1938), the author of this chronicle is Dr. Georg Strele,
a former head of the Austrian Service for Torrent and Avalanche Control
in Tyrol. The chronicle was transcribed on the one hand by the
department 30 of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, South Tyrol and
on the other hand by Josef Plank in conjunction with his unpublished
master thesis in 1995. To have two transcribed versions of this chronicle
was helpful, as a comparison of these two made it possible to find out
transcription errors.
To split the chronicle into individual and meaningful datasets was the
most time-consuming part of this work. These datasets should follow the
DIS-ALP standard and give at least an answer to the three main
questions (what, when, where). The main focus of this work was the
spatial mapping of the damages and the identification of the causing
water bodies. The first mentioned event took place in the 4th century.
The time and location information of this time period is pretty inaccurate,
but it is getting more precise for younger events.
A few of the above mentioned issues became also relevant in this work:
o In general, the compilation of historical hazard events is very
time-consuming.
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o The transcription of historical documents is essential. In this
case, the chronicle was written in Korenth script (old German
script) which increased the possibility of transcription errors.
o At least the author, the locality and the date of the chronicle
should be known.
o The sometimes more general description of events made it
difficult to extract reliable and precise information
It was attempted to avoid any kind of interpretation, but linguistic
particularities made it sometimes necessary. The author of the chronicle
used terms which are not part of the DIS-ALP standard any more to
describe the events. These terms had to be converted. Hence, a
framework was set up to harmonise the conversion within all datasets.
Spatial Planning and Risk management requirements
In this report the description of data requirements is restricted to those
data, which can and should be provided by the experts dealing with
natural hazards. There may be some more information or preparation
needed, e.g. for the organization of risk management, but this has to be
done in an other context e.g. platform natural disasters by the Swiss
example.
Requirements of spatial planning and risk management are to a great
extent the same (also for house - owners etc.):
Requirements for spatial planning
o Type of process(es) to be expected (e.g. flood, debris flow,
landslide,, soil erosion, avalanches, rockfall, etc.)
o Reoccurrence period (every 30 and 100 years) in particular for
floods and avalanches. Difficult or even impossible for e.g. mass
movements.
o Affected area and according Intensity, impact in a general scale
(very high , high, medium, low, very low ).
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o Detailed information (e.g. depth, height, width) related to the
specific process.
o Level of protection works, residual risk.
o Endangered area in case of failure of protection works (this
information must be coloured separately).
o Possibilities / necessities for private precaution, prevention:
differentiated due to the process: in form of remarks for the
particular area.
o Appropriate use possible or maybe better the contrary case: not
possible kinds of land use (general standards)
The appropriate land use as mentioned in point 8 must be the result of
an open discussion in the public / community and regulated in general
standards. This is not the duty of the expert.
Requirements for risk management
As discussed at the 1st workshop in Salzburg the term "risk engineering"
should be substituted by "risk management".
More or less the data as mentioned above are also needed for risk
management. Based on this information the according organization may
consider topics like:
o Type of process(es) to be expected
o Affected area, number of people
o Velocity of process; early warning system possible ? Time for
warning / evacuation ? How much time ?
o Safe access and rescue ares
o Critical spots, equipment needed
Requirements for the experts
The information mentioned above have to be supplied by skilled experts.
To be able to do so the experts need in addition more detailed
information depending on the type of process:
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o Reliable, sound documentation of disasters such as:
• Performance of process (start, peak, end)
• Triggering factors, climatic situation, precipitation
• Intensity, impact in terms of forces, pressures ( e.g.
pressures in case of avalanches).
o Magnitude and frequency (discharge, volume, masses etc.; re-
occurrence period)
o Information about silent witnesses and documents of historical
processes: Location, affected area, .reports, photographs and
other documents in an event-register.
o Basic information such as e.g. geological maps, geomorphologic
maps etc.
In addition a number of more data will be needed for a full
understanding and assessment of an event, e.g. landslides, debris flow
etc. In the context of this report it seems not to be helpful to list all these
data here; this has to be decided by an expert related to the specific local
situation.
DIS-ALP web portal
The intention of the DIS-ALP Web - Portal is to provide an exchange
platform for experts, planning institutions and the interested public on
disaster events in alpine regions and on related background information
(“knowledge”). Consequently data for each event recorded are presented
in the degree of detail corresponding to the requirements, defined in
DIS-ALP methodology.
This means the maximum information detail of the DIS-ALP web portal is
defined by the DIS-ALP 5 W standard (which, when, where, why, who).
For historical event data the 3 W standard is used (which, where, when).
It is not intention of DIS-ALP portal to duplicate the entire volume of
detailed information collected by the responsible organizations, but rather
to offer a possibility to integrate event data throughout the alps from a
wide variety of organisations.
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For this end the following design principles were used in the development
of the DIS-ALP portal, which is available at portal.dis-alp.org:
o open interfaces, with the use of standards such as the OGIS
standards GML and WFS for data integration, WMS for web
mapping, OWL for knowledge representation and SOAP services
for communication purposes;
o integration of existing platforms via the defined open interfaces
in order to avoid data redundancy (e.g. WLV event portal in
Austria, Salzburg historical events, Bavaria archives, STORME...);
o multilingual user interface, including database content;
o a knowledge base, as solution for formally structuring the
knowledge background necessary for using event data and for
future planning and disaster mitigation measures;
o easy-to-use interface for wide access to data and background
information.
Figure 24: DIS-ALP Web Portal: Basic event overview
In general the portal is separated into two main activity fields. A
navigation-tree on the left side provides all the functionality dealing with
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event data and knowledge. In more detail 3 fundamental function groups
are available:
o "Upload", gives the user the possibility to load events after a pre-
defined standard to the DIS-ALP Portal. See also chapter “Data
Upload”.
o "Events", this function offers the possibility to view and filter
desired event information. Events are presented as points at the
Web GIS surface of the Portal. Associated attributes can easily be
queried in detail.
o "Knowledge", gives information to the user about general
background knowledge from the ontology based DIS-ALP
knowledge base.
On the right side, the user can choose between a cartographical
presentation to get information about event data and a specific detailed
knowledge presentation.
The event data is represented as point information on the map, which is
corresponding to the information detail represented within DIS-ALP. The
data itself can be directly stored in the DIS-ALP (PostGIS) database,
when uploaded by a user. Alternativly (and preferrably) a co-operating
institutions links its own event data via a DIS-ALP conforming WFS.
Functions for map interaction are available in the map representation,
like pan, zoom, individually choosen legends or information requests
(Figure 25). This functionality is extendable to meet future requirements.
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Figure 25: DIS-ALP Portal – detailed information view of events
Background knowledge is provided through the [List] register-card.
Definitions, photos and hierarchical structure of the questioned term are
displayed.
Figure 26: DIS-ALP Portal – view with knowledge query
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Data integration into DIS-ALP portal
There are two different possibilities of integrating event data within
DIS-ALP:
o Bulk Insert via data upload,
o Web Feature Service (WFS), corresponding to DIS-ALP
specifications.
Bulk Insert of individual data
This data upload possibility is based on a XML transformation of an
individually database which is then be directly imported into the DIS-ALP
database via the DIS-ALP Portal.
There are five working steps required to use the Bulk Insert functionality
of the DIS-ALP Portal, see Figure below.
Figure 27: XML transformation of your database and import via DIS-ALP portal (Bulk
Insert).
o Database Mapping converts individual tables to DIS-ALP-
structure.
o Generate XML means to transform the related data into XML
(Extended Markup Language) format.
o XSLT (XML Transformation) is used to transform XML-documents
into valid Geographical Markup Language (GML) files.
XSLTGenerate XML
OGC WCTS
Insert WFSDatabase Mapping
XSLTGenerate XML
OGC WCTS
Insert WFSDatabase Mapping
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o OGC WCTS „Web Coordinate Transformation Service“. This is a
“defacto”-standard, defined by OGC for coordinate
transformation between different coordinate systems.
o Carry out data-upload via DIS-ALP Portal, figure below.
Figure 28: Web upload front end DIS-ALP Portal
Setup of a DIS-ALP conforming Web Feature Service (WFS).
The idea behind the second integration possibility is to extend individually
databases by Web Feature Service implementation. Data of Partner-WFS
are integrated within DIS-ALP as WFS and represented to the end-user
via cascading WFS as Mapping Service (WMS). This solutions provides
several advantages:
o manage data in a future oriented way:
o exchange data with DIS-ALP WFS with a minimum effort;
o no duplication of data;
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• no download of full datasets possible by end-users (end-
user only has WMS available).
For detailed information about basic requirements, security
considerations as well as final implementation see Annex
(Implementation of dedicated WFS).
Event Functionality
The portal provides the possibility to query and display event information.
Controlled by the navigation-tree at the left side of the portal the
following event driven activities can be triggered:
o Load events
Select the organisations which provide event information.
o Filter events
This function represents the event query management. With the
providing filter form (Figure 29) it’s possible to search for event
information by selecting thematic, spatial and temporal context.
Figure 29: Query filter – DIS-ALP Portal
o Export events
Authorised users can export requested event information.
o Event statistics
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Predefined statistical queries can be selected. This activity makes
sense for often used queries.
DIS-ALP Web Services
The DIS ALP portal is to be regarded both as a producer and consumer
of Web Services.
As a producer DIS ALP offers a WMS for event maps (defined as OGC
conformal WMS), a data service for online-queries from event data as
well as a knowledge service for the technical access to the DIS ALP
knowledge database. Since for thematically oriented data services and
knowledge services (contrary to WMS) no internationally recognized
standards can be resorted to, these services (DIXIE for data service and
OWL for knowledge service) are defined and made available over SOAP.
Three services are implemented within DIS-ALP:
Knowledge Service Functions for the use of the knowledge
data base in service form.
Data Service Supply and upload of structured event
data.
Map Service Functions for the use of event maps in
service form.
Map services are well covered by the use of WMS, both for integrating
external mapping ressources and for providing maps in service form. In
DIS-ALP WMS is used for both purposes.
Data exchange services are used only at the input side, DIXIE XML for
upload purposes and a simplified GML version as basis for WFS
integration.
DIS-ALP knowledge service internally uses OWL and provides special
functions for knowledge queries (e.g. getDefinition, getTranslation,
getFullObject), which are returned as XML representation of object
structure. This functionality is directly accessed by the navigation tree
component and the knowledge view.
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ZISCHG, A. (2005):
Rekonstruktion historischer Überschwemmungsereignisse im
Sterzinger Talbecken. Erfassung bestehender Unterlagen und
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Project Consortium
BMLFUW/Forestry Austria
Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry,
the Environment and Water Resources;
Department 4: Forestry Section
BMLFUW/Water Austria
Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry,
the Environment and Water Resources;
Department 5: Water Section
SALZBURG Austria
Land Salzburg;
Department 7: Spatial Planning
BAVARIA Germany
Bavarian Ministry of Regional Development and
the Environment;
Department 5: Water Management
BOZEN Italy
Autonome Provinz Bozen;
Sonderbetrieb für Bodenschutz, Wildbach- und
Lawinenverbauung
TRENTO Italy
Provincia Autonoma di Trento;
Servizio di Sistemazione Montana
SLOVENIA Slovenia
Torrent and Erosion Control Service Slovenia
SCHWEIZ Schweiz
Bundesamt für Umwelt, Wald und Landschaft
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Participants
Hubert Siegel; Dipl.-Ing. Lead Partner
BMLFUW Sektion IV (Forstwesen) Abteilung 4b
Marxergasse 2 A-1030-Wien Tel.: 0043/1/711 00-7204 [email protected]
Gerhard Mannsberger; Dipl.-Ing. Lead Partner
BMLFUW Sektion IV (Forstwesen) Marxergasse 2 A-1030-Wien Tel.: 0043/1/711 00-730 [email protected]
Ingo Schnetzer; Dipl.-Ing. Technical Project Coordination
WLV Stabstelle Geoinformation Stubenring 1 A-1012 Wien Tel.: 0043/1/71100-2350 Fax: 0043/1/71100-2359 [email protected]
Stefan Kollarits; Mag. Dr. Project Management
PRISMA solutions Klostergasse 18 A-2340 - Mödling Tel.: 0043/2236/47975-13 Mob: 0043/664/4509206 [email protected]
Christian Scheidl; Dipl.-Ing. Project Management
PRISMA solutions Klostergasse 18 A-2340 Mödling Tel.:0043/2236/47975-21 [email protected]
Klaus-Peter Hanten; Dipl.-Ing. Project Partner: 1
Bundesministerium für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt und Wasserwirtschaft
Marxergasse 2 A-1030-Wien Tel.: 0043/1/71100/7136 [email protected]
Drago Pleschko; Dipl.-Ing. Project Partner: 1
Bundesministerium für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt und Wasserwirtschaft
Marxergasse 2 A-1030-Wien Tel.: 0043/1/71100/7135 [email protected]
Wolfgang Haussteiner; Dipl.-Ing. Abteilungsleiter Project Partner: 1
Amt der Salzburger Landesregierung Fachabteilung 6/6: Wasserwirtschaf
Postfach 527 A-5010 Salzburg Tel.: 0043/662 8042 /4539 Fax: 0043/662 8042 /4199 [email protected]
Robert Loizl; Dipl.-Ing. Project Partner: 1
Amt der Salzburger Landesregierung Fachabteilung 6/6: Wasserwirtschaf
Postfach 527 A-5010 Salzburg Tel.: 0043/662 8042 /4263 Fax: 0043/662 8042 /4199 [email protected]
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Friedrich Mair; Ing. Dr. Abteilungsleiter Project Partner: 2
Amt der Salzburger Landesregierung Abteilung 7: Raumplanung
Michael-Pacher-Straße 36 A-5020 Salzburg Tel.: 0043/662/8042-4387 [email protected]
Franz Dollinger; Dr. Referatsleiter Project Partner: 2
Amt der Salzburger Landesregierung Abteilung 7: Raumplanung Fachref. 7/02: Raumforschung und grenzüberschreitende Raumplanung
Michael-Pacher-Straße 36 A-5020 Salzburg Tel.: 0043/662/804 2-4650 [email protected]
Andreas Holderer; Dipl.-Ing. Project Partner: 3
Bayrisches Umweltministerium Rosenkavalierplatz 2 D-81925 München Tel.: 0049/89/921/443/16 [email protected]
Anton Loipersberger; Dipl.-Ing. Project Partner: 3
Bayer. Landesamt für Umwelt Dienstort München Referat 61 - Hochwasserschutz und alpine Naturgefahren
Bayer. Landesamt für Umwelt Dienstort München Postfach 19 02 41 D-80 602 München Tel.: 0049/89/9214/1042 Fax: 0049/89/9214/1041 [email protected]
Rudolf Pollinger Dr. Project Partner: 4
Autonome Provinz Bozen Sonderbetrieb für Bodenschutz, Wildbach- und Lawinenverbauung
Caesare-Battisti-Str. 23 I-39100 Bozen Tel.: 0039/0471/414/550 Fax: 0039/0471/414/599 [email protected]
Hans-Peter Staffler Dr. Project Partner: 4
Autonome Provinz Bozen Sonderbetrieb für Bodenschutz, Wildbach- und Lawinenverbauung
Caesare-Battisti-Str. 23 I-39100 Bozen Tel.: 0039/0471/414/ Fax: 0039/0471/414/599 [email protected]
Bruno Mazzorana; Dr. Project Partner: 4
Autonome Provinz Bozen Sonderbetrieb für Bodenschutz, Wildbach- und Lawinenverbauung
Caesare-Battisti-Str. 23 I-39100 Bozen Tel.: 0039/0471/414/567 Fax: 0039/0471/414/599 [email protected]
Elisabeth Berger; Dr. Project Partner: 4
Autonome Provinz Bozen Sonderbetrieb für Bodenschutz, Wildbach- und Lawinenverbauung
Caesare-Battisti-Str. 23 I-39100 Bozen Tel.: 0039/0471/414/569 Fax: 0039/0471/414/599 [email protected]
Pierpaolo Macconi; Dr. Project Partner: 4
Autonome Provinz Bozen Sonderbetrieb für Bodenschutz, Wildbach- und Lawinenverbauung
Caesare-Battisti-Str. 23 I-39100 Bozen Tel.: 0039/0471/414 588 [email protected]
Mario Cerato; Dr. Project Partner: 5
c/o Servizio Sistemazione Montana Via G.B. Trener, 3 I-38100 Trento Tel.: 0039/0461/495703 [email protected]
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Aldo Caserotti; Dr. Project Partner: 5
c/o Servizio Sistemazione Montana Via G.B. Trener, 3 I-38100 Trento Tel.: 0039/0461/495695 [email protected]
Silvio Grisotto; Dr. Project Partner: 5
c/o Servizio Sistemazione Montana Via G.B. Trener, 3 I-38100 Trento Tel.: 0039/349/788/6772 [email protected]
Aleš Horvat Prof. Dr. Project Partner: 6
Torrent and Erosion Control Service – Slowenien PUH d.d.
Tel.: +386/1/4775200 [email protected]
Jože Papež Dipl.Ing. Project Partner: 6
Torrent and Erosion Control Service – Slowenien PUH d.d.
Tel.: +386/1/4775200 [email protected]
Werner Schärer Dipl. Forsting. ETH, lic. Iur. Forstdirektor Project Partner: 7
Bundesamt für Umwelt, Wald und Landschaft (BUWAL) Forstdirektion
Papiermühlestrasse 172 Ittigen CH-3003 Bern Tel.: 0041/31/324/7836 Fax: 0041/31/324/7866 [email protected]
Marzio Giamboni; Dr. Project Partner: 7
Bundesamt für Umwelt, Wald und Landschaft
Papiermühlestrasse 172 Ittigen CH-3003 Bern Tel.: 0041/31/324/8640 Fax: 0041/31/324/7866 [email protected] www.schutzwald-schweiz.ch
Franziska Schmid Dipl. Geogr. Project Partner: 7
Geographisches Institut der Universität Bern
Geographisches Institut der Universität Bern CH-3012 Bern Tel.: 0041/31/6318390 Fax.: 0041/31/6318511 [email protected]
Simon Burren; Dr. Project Partner: 7
Bundesamt für Umwelt, Wald und Landschaft
Papiermühlestrasse 172 Ittigen CH-3003 Bern www.schutzwald-schweiz.ch
Walter Riedler Mag. Consultant
Salzburger Institut für Raumordnung und Wohnen
Alpenstr. 47 A-5020 Salzburg Tel.: 0043/662/623455/18 [email protected]
Lorenzo Marchi; Dr. Consultant
CNR IRPI - Padova Corso Stati Uniti 4 35127 Padova Italy [email protected]
Sebastiano Trevisani; Dr. Consultant
CNR IRPI - Padova Tel.: 0039/0347/1189687 [email protected]
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Marco Cavalli; Dr. Consultant
CNR IRPI - Padova Corso Stati Uniti 4 35127 Padova Italy [email protected]
Hannes Hübl; Prof. Dr. Consultant
Universität für Bodenkultur Wien Institut für Alpine Naturgefahren Department für Bautechnik und Naturgefahren
Peter-Jordan Strasse 82 A-1190 Wien Tel.: direct: 0043/1/47654/4352 Tel.: office: 0043/1/47654/4350 Mob.: 0043/664/5110495 Fax: 0043/1/47654/4390 [email protected]
Egon Ganahl; Dipl. – Ing. Consultant
Universität für Bodenkultur Wien Institut für Alpine Naturgefahren Department für Bautechnik und Naturgefahren
Peter-Jordan Strasse 82 A-1190 Wien
Peter Agner; Dipl. – Ing. Consultant
Universität für Bodenkultur Wien Institut für Alpine Naturgefahren Department für Bautechnik und Naturgefahren
Peter-Jordan Strasse 82 A-1190 Wien
Markus Moser; Dipl. – Ing. Consultant
Universität für Bodenkultur Wien Institut für Alpine Naturgefahren Department für Bautechnik und Naturgefahren
Peter-Jordan Strasse 82 A-1190 Wien
Willibald Kerschbaumsteiner; Dipl. – Ing. Consultant
Universität für Bodenkultur Wien Institut für Wasserwirtschaft, Hydrologie und konstruktiven Wasserbau
Muthgasse 18 A-1190 Wien Tel: 0043/1/36006-5525 Fax: 0043/1/36006-5549 [email protected]
Hans Kienholz; Prof. Dr. Consultant
University of Bern Geographical Institute Applied Geomorphology & Natural Risks
Hallerstrasse 12 CH-3012 Berne Tel.: 0041/31/631/8884 or: 0041/31/372/9031 or: 0041/31/631/8859 secr. Fax: 0041/31/631/8511 [email protected]
Diethard Leber; Univ.-Lektor Mag. Dr. Consultant Remote Sensing
GeoExpert Research & Planning GmbH
Brunhildengasse 1/1, A-1150 Wien Tel.: 0043/1/36744 05 50 Fax: 0043/1/3674405 55 [email protected]
Tanja Nössing; Mag.rer.nat. Consultant
G. di Vittorio Str. 29/c I-39100 Bozen Tel.: 0093/0349/4443931 [email protected]
Michael Becht; Prof. Dr. Consultant
Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt Lehrstuhl für physische Geographie
Ostenstrasse 18 85072 Eichstätt Tel.: 0049/8421 93 – 1303 Fax: 0049/8421 93 – 2302 [email protected]
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Detailed annexes
The detailed reports in the original languages can be found on the
DIS-ALP website (http://www.dis-
alp.org/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=118) or
linked below:
Methodology (WP5)
o Methodology-Band1.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP5/
Methodology-Band1.pdf)
o Methodology-Band2.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP5/
Methodology-Band2.pdf)
o Methodology-Band1-Appendix1.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP5/
Methodology-Band1-Appendix1.pdf)
o Methodology-Band1-Appendix2.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP5/
Methodology-Band1-Appendix2.pdf)
o Methodology-Band1-Appendix3.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP5/
Methodology-Band1-Appendix3.pdf)
System development (WP6)
o Setup_of_WFS
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP6/
DIS_ALP_WFS_setup.pdf)
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New Tools (WP7)
o WP7_1.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP7/
WP7_1.pdf)
o WP7_2.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP7/
WP7_2.pdf)
o DISALP_Fernerkundung_LEBER.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP7/
DISALP_Fernerkundung_LEBER.pdf)
o GeoExpert_Teil_B_Felddatenerhebung.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP7/
GeoExpert_Teil_B_Felddatenerhebung.pdf)
Instruction
o DISALP-Feldanleitung_germ.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP8/
DISALP-Feldanleitung_germ.pdf)
o KurzberichtSchulen_engl.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP8/
KurzberichtSchulen_engl.pdf)
Implementation
o HAWAS_Abschlussbericht-Juli_2005_englisch.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP9/
HAWAS_Abschlussbericht-Juli 2005_englisch.pdf)
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DIS-ALP
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o Disalp_Tinne_Nov.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP9/
Disalp_Tinne_Nov.pdf)
o Bericht_Brixen-1.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP9/
Bericht_Brixen-1.pdf)
o Disalp_HistorischeEreignisse-2.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP9/
Disalp_HistorischeEreignisse-2.pdf)
o IAN-Historische_Ereignisse.pdf
(http://www.dis-
alp.org/modules/UpDownload/store_folder/Work_Packages/WP9/
IAN-Historische Ereignisse.pdf)