Globally, the absolute number of war deaths has been declining since 1946. And yet, conflict and violence are currently on the rise, with many conflicts today waged between non-state actors such as political militias, criminal, and international terrorist groups. Unresolved regional tensions, a breakdown in the rule of law, absent or co-opted state institutions, illicit economic gain, and the scarcity of resources exacerbated by climate change, have become dominant drivers of conflict (UN. A new era of conflicts, 2022). In the ear of modern technology, data science, machine learning, and AI, the available shall be used to analyze, understand and possibly predict the possibility of conflicts outbreaks in various parts of the world. Moreover, it should provide tools for political scientists to a deeper understanding of political processes and enhance their decision-making processes. This paper focuses on applying data science techniques to process and analyze data in three various data analysis domains: Semantic, Geospatial, and Temporal Analysis. It provides the possible sources of the conflict and other datasets used for the analytics mentioned above. The data is used for research and experimental purposes only. These analytical processes provide the mechanisms to discover the historical data and identify the potential causes of the conflicts.
Deforestation can be defined as the conversion of forest land cover to another type. It is a process that has massively accelerated its rate and extent in the last several decades. Mainly due to human activities related to socio-economic processes as population growth, expansion of agricultural land, wood extraction, etc. In the meantime, there are great efforts by governments and agencies to reduce these deforestation processes by implementing regulations, which cannot always be properly monitored whether are followed or not. In this work is proposed an approach that can provide forest loss estimations for a short period of time, by using Synthetic Aperture Radar imagery for an area in the Brazilian Amazon. SAR are providing data with almost no alteration due to weather conditions, however they may present other limitations. To mitigate the speckle effect, here was applied the dry coefficient, which is the mean of image values under the first quartile while preserving the spatial resolution. While for obtaining land cover maps containing only forest and non-forest areas an object-based machine learning classification on the Google Earth Engine platform was applied. The preliminary tests were carried out in a bitemporal manner between 2015 and 2019, followed by applying the approach monthly for the year of 2020. The outputs yielded very satisfactory and accurate results, allowing to estimate the forest dynamics for the area under consideration for each month.
Deforestation can be defined as the conversion of forest land cover to another type. It is a process that has massively accelerated its rate and extent in the last several decades. Mainly due to human activities related to socio-economic processes as population growth, expansion of agricultural land, wood extraction, etc. In the meantime, there are great efforts by governments and agencies to reduce these deforestation processes by implementing regulations, which cannot always be properly monitored whether are followed or not. In this work is proposed an approach that can provide forest loss estimations for a short period of time, by using Synthetic Aperture Radar imagery for an area in the Brazilian Amazon. SAR are providing data with almost no alteration due to weather conditions, however they may present other limitations. To mitigate the speckle effect, here was applied the dry coefficient, which is the mean of image values under the first quartile while preserving the spatial resolution. While for obtaining land cover maps containing only forest and non-forest areas an object-based machine learning classification on the Google Earth Engine platform was applied. The preliminary tests were carried out in a bitemporal manner between 2015 and 2019, followed by applying the approach monthly for the year of 2020. The outputs yielded very satisfactory and accurate results, allowing to estimate the forest dynamics for the area under consideration for each month.
Nowadays, the increasing pressure over water resources is reflecting on the water quality all over the globe. Not surprisingly, local, and regional governments are taking initiatives into tackling this issue. However, the management of water resources requires coordinated management by the stakeholders, especially in cross-border regions, to achieve efficient regulations. Then, the data-sharing for monitoring the water resources is fundamental for the stakeholder participation in the process of knowledge building. This work presents the design and implementation of a collaborative web platform aiming at enhancing these processes applied to share water quality parameters maps produced under the framework of the SIMILE (Integrated monitoring system for knowledge, protection and valorisation of the subalpine lakes and their ecosystems) project. The platform takes advantage of open-source infrastructure and standards. The solution provides two web-based applications devoted to the upload/management (customized GeoNode) of the data and its visualization (WebGIS). The scope of the collaborative platform is to improve the access to information for awareness-building on the water resources in the Insubric area.
Nowadays, the increasing pressure over water resources is reflecting on the water quality all over the globe. Not surprisingly, local, and regional governments are taking initiatives into tackling this issue. However, the management of water resources requires coordinated management by the stakeholders, especially in cross-border regions, to achieve efficient regulations. Then, the data-sharing for monitoring the water resources is fundamental for the stakeholder participation in the process of knowledge building. This work presents the design and implementation of a collaborative web platform aiming at enhancing these processes applied to share water quality parameters maps produced under the framework of the SIMILE (Integrated monitoring system for knowledge, protection and valorisation of the subalpine lakes and their ecosystems) project. The platform takes advantage of open-source infrastructure and standards. The solution provides two web-based applications devoted to the upload/management (customized GeoNode) of the data and its visualization (WebGIS). The scope of the collaborative platform is to improve the access to information for awareness-building on the water resources in the Insubric area.
Nowadays, the increasing pressure over water resources is reflecting on the water quality all over the globe. Not surprisingly, local, and regional governments are taking initiatives into tackling this issue. However, the management of water resources requires coordinated management by the stakeholders, especially in cross-border regions, to achieve efficient regulations. Then, the data-sharing for monitoring the water resources is fundamental for the stakeholder participation in the process of knowledge building. This work presents the design and implementation of a collaborative web platform aiming at enhancing these processes applied to share water quality parameters maps produced under the framework of the SIMILE (Integrated monitoring system for knowledge, protection and valorisation of the subalpine lakes and their ecosystems) project. The platform takes advantage of open-source infrastructure and standards. The solution provides two web-based applications devoted to the upload/management (customized GeoNode) of the data and its visualization (WebGIS). The scope of the collaborative platform is to improve the access to information for awareness-building on the water resources in the Insubric area.
The design and implementation of modern tourism management systems have to interface with the growing technological attitude of users which nowadays mostly approach the selection of the desired destinations through the web. In view of the above, the local tourism actors have to fully embrace the digital transformation by integrating Information Technologies into their operational routines. With this in mind, it is here presented the development of a technological infrastructure to provide with new digital assets to the natural parks of the Insubria, cross-border region stretching between Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland. This work is carried out within the INSUBRI.PARKS project, funded by the Interreg program of the European Union. The final goal of the project is to increase tourism attractiveness of the Insubria region through the provision of new infrastructure, the design of new tourism experiences, and the deployment of Information Technology tools to support the cross-border tourism management and marketing. The tools development is described in detail and the application prototypes are presented. The work leverages exclusively Free and Open Source Software that provides the infrastructure with large rooms of improvements and customization while reducing both development and maintenance costs. Future directions for the work are outlined by considering the amelioration of the presented tools, the development of additional components, and the practical applications of the infrastructure functionalities from the perspective of both park managers and visitors.
La gestione e la promozione del patrimonio naturale rappresentano sfide importanti per gli enti locali e regionali preposti. Oggi più che mai vi è necessità di introdurre tecnologie all'avanguardia nelle procedure gestionali e di comunicazione degli enti gestori, al fine di aumentarne la competitività rispetto a uno scenario turistico internazionale, nonché in un'ottica di ottimizzazione delle risorse. Il progetto INSUBRI.PARKS, finanziato dal programma di cooperazione Interreg Italia-Svizzera 2014-2020 (https://interreg-italiasvizzera.eu/database_progetti/insubri-parks), mira al potenziamento dell'attrattività dei parchi transfrontalieri dell'area insubrica, compresa tra Lombardia (IT) e Canton Ticino (CH), attraverso la creazione di nuovi itinerari tematici e l'introduzione di strumenti Web e software per la gestione, la promozione e il monitoraggio delle aree protette. In parallelo al potenziamento infrastrutturale, il progetto ha come obiettivo la creazione di un sistema di gestione trasversale e condiviso dei parchi transfrontalieri dedicato al marketing territoriale. Il sistema include lo sviluppo di una infrastruttura IT standardizzata per facilitare la raccolta, l'accesso, lo scambio e il riutilizzo di informazioni strategiche per la gestione dell'attività turistica. Data la diretta connessione con il territorio dei soggetti coinvolti, i dati considerati sono prevalentemente di natura geografica. Questi includono dati cartografici di base utili alla caratterizzazione dell'offerta turistico-culturale degli attrattori locali e della mobilità pubblica e pedonale. A causa del contesto politico frammentato, la creazione di una cartografia digitale comune rappresenta il primo passo verso la gestione integrata del turismo nelle aree di confine. La base di dati verrà estesa introducendo osservazioni sui dei flussi di visitatori, raccolte nei siti più emblematici da una rete di sensori low-cost che verrà messa in opera durante il progetto. Infine, contenuti crowdsourcing (social media) o VGI (Volunteered Geographic Information) verranno introdotti per il monitoraggio virtuale delle aree di progetto e la raccolta di feedbacks diretti e indiretti dei visitatori. Lo studio proposto presenta l'implementazione dell'infrastruttura IT, progettata considerando l'utilizzo di tecnologie Software Free e Open Source (FOSS), al fine di garantire la sostenibilità economica dello sviluppo sia nel breve che nel lungo periodo. L'utilizzo del FOSS mira inoltre ad assicurare un accesso agli applicativi equo e uniformato per tutti i soggetti coinvolti, che attualmente operano con modalità eterogenee in termini di strumentazione e know-how digitale. La banca dati è basata su PostgreSQL-PostGIS. La componente server sfrutta GeoServer per la pubblicazione dei dati geospaziali. Un'istanza di istSOS verrà integrata per la gestione dei dati da sensore. Il client di visualizzazione è basato principalmente su OpenLayers. Una dashboard di visualizzazione e analisi dei dati da sensore e crowdsourcing sarà introdotta nel client e resa accessibile ai gestori dei parchi. Applicativi per la raccolta dati sul campo e sistemi di raccomandazione personalizzata per la pianificazione dell'esperienza turistica sono al vaglio e verranno integrati nell'architettura sopra descritta. Vengono discussi infine alcuni use-cases insieme ai benefici attesi dalla co-creazione di strategie gestionali del turismo transfrontaliero mediante piattaforme software aperte e condivise.
The design and implementation of modern tourism management systems have to interface with the growing technological attitude of users which nowadays mostly approach the selection of the desired destinations through the web. In view of the above, the local tourism actors have to fully embrace the digital transformation by integrating Information Technologies into their operational routines. With this in mind, it is here presented the development of a technological infrastructure to provide with new digital assets to the natural parks of the Insubria, cross-border region stretching between Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland. This work is carried out within the INSUBRI.PARKS project, funded by the Interreg program of the European Union. The final goal of the project is to increase tourism attractiveness of the Insubria region through the provision of new infrastructure, the design of new tourism experiences, and the deployment of Information Technology tools to support the cross-border tourism management and marketing. The tools development is described in detail and the application prototypes are presented. The work leverages exclusively Free and Open Source Software that provides the infrastructure with large rooms of improvements and customization while reducing both development and maintenance costs. Future directions for the work are outlined by considering the amelioration of the presented tools, the development of additional components, and the practical applications of the infrastructure functionalities from the perspective of both park managers and visitors.
The design and implementation of modern tourism management systems have to interface with the growing technological attitude of users which nowadays mostly approach the selection of the desired destinations through the web. In view of the above, the local tourism actors have to fully embrace the digital transformation by integrating Information Technologies into their operational routines. With this in mind, it is here presented the development of a technological infrastructure to provide with new digital assets to the natural parks of the Insubria, cross-border region stretching between Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland. This work is carried out within the INSUBRI.PARKS project, funded by the Interreg program of the European Union. The final goal of the project is to increase tourism attractiveness of the Insubria region through the provision of new infrastructure, the design of new tourism experiences, and the deployment of Information Technology tools to support the cross-border tourism management and marketing. The tools development is described in detail and the application prototypes are presented. The work leverages exclusively Free and Open Source Software that provides the infrastructure with large rooms of improvements and customization while reducing both development and maintenance costs. Future directions for the work are outlined by considering the amelioration of the presented tools, the development of additional components, and the practical applications of the infrastructure functionalities from the perspective of both park managers and visitors.
Nowadays, sustainable development and preservation of territories poses a number of challenges requiring innovative and robust technological tools to fully accomplish them. According to this, the design of an integrated tourism management system is here discussed. The tourism management system is developed for the Insubria Region within the INSUBRIPARKS project, funded by the Interreg program of the European Union. The Insubria is a historical-geographical area stretches between Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland embedding a valuable historical and natural heritage. Nevertheless, the tourism potential of the region is not fully exploited due to a fragmented political context within the geographical area that extends across different local and national jurisdictions. The final goal of the project to increase tourism attractiveness of the Insubria Region through the provision of physical infrastructure, the development and promotion of new tourism experiences, and the deployment of a standardized Information Technology infrastructure to support cross-border land management and marketing operations. Central to this paper is the preliminary design of this infrastructure that will provide tools for supporting information generating and consuming among project partners and external stakeholders. The design phase leverages exclusively Free and Open Source Software. Alongside the preliminary architecture, both use cases and user requirements are discussed together with the expected benefits deriving from the co-creation of best tourism management practices by means of open and shared software platforms.
Open Data, and Open Government Data, are proving to be an important resource for the economic development inside the domain where information has a key role (Carrara et al., 2015). Although, different practices for data publishing have led to misalignment, underuse and repetition of information (Bizer et al., 2011). For this reason, the Public Administrations have undergone efforts on integrating the information and promoting interoperability through the implementation of best practices, as for example, the use of a common semantics vocabulary for the metadata (DCAT) as proposed by the ISA2 programme of the European Commission. The Interreg Italy-Switzerland GIOCOnDA project has been proposed for enhancing the data sharing processes in the cross-border area, particularly addressing tourism and mobility that are key economic activities for the region. For this work, a review on the data catalogues published in dati.lombardia.it and opendata.swiss is presented. The revision of the datasets showed the need for: 1) defining common semantics for the description of the categories of data to avoid the arbitrary use of vocabularies, and 2) adopting standards for the description of geodata. On the other hand, it was observed the potential to gather existing information to produce geodata querying the datasets with specific keywords that can provide spatial information. Open data, as well as the use of best practices for publishing data, push towards the use of FOSS. In this work, Python has been exploited to analyse the content of the catalogues to access web portals resources.
Nowadays, sustainable development and preservation of territories poses a number of challenges requiring innovative and robust technological tools to fully accomplish them. According to this, the design of an integrated tourism management system is here discussed. The tourism management system is developed for the Insubria Region within the INSUBRIPARKS project, funded by the Interreg program of the European Union. The Insubria is a historical-geographical area stretches between Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland embedding a valuable historical and natural heritage. Nevertheless, the tourism potential of the region is not fully exploited due to a fragmented political context within the geographical area that extends across different local and national jurisdictions. The final goal of the project to increase tourism attractiveness of the Insubria Region through the provision of physical infrastructure, the development and promotion of new tourism experiences, and the deployment of a standardized Information Technology infrastructure to support cross-border land management and marketing operations. Central to this paper is the preliminary design of this infrastructure that will provide tools for supporting information generating and consuming among project partners and external stakeholders. The design phase leverages exclusively Free and Open Source Software. Alongside the preliminary architecture, both use cases and user requirements are discussed together with the expected benefits deriving from the co-creation of best tourism management practices by means of open and shared software platforms.
Nowadays, sustainable development and preservation of territories poses a number of challenges requiring innovative and robust technological tools to fully accomplish them. According to this, the design of an integrated tourism management system is here discussed. The tourism management system is developed for the Insubria Region within the INSUBRIPARKS project, funded by the Interreg program of the European Union. The Insubria is a historical-geographical area stretches between Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland embedding a valuable historical and natural heritage. Nevertheless, the tourism potential of the region is not fully exploited due to a fragmented political context within the geographical area that extends across different local and national jurisdictions. The final goal of the project to increase tourism attractiveness of the Insubria Region through the provision of physical infrastructure, the development and promotion of new tourism experiences, and the deployment of a standardized Information Technology infrastructure to support cross-border land management and marketing operations. Central to this paper is the preliminary design of this infrastructure that will provide tools for supporting information generating and consuming among project partners and external stakeholders. The design phase leverages exclusively Free and Open Source Software. Alongside the preliminary architecture, both use cases and user requirements are discussed together with the expected benefits deriving from the co-creation of best tourism management practices by means of open and shared software platforms.
Open Data, and Open Government Data, are proving to be an important resource for the economic development inside the domain where information has a key role (Carrara et al., 2015). Although, different practices for data publishing have led to misalignment, underuse and repetition of information (Bizer et al., 2011). For this reason, the Public Administrations have undergone efforts on integrating the information and promoting interoperability through the implementation of best practices, as for example, the use of a common semantics vocabulary for the metadata (DCAT) as proposed by the ISA2 programme of the European Commission. The Interreg Italy-Switzerland GIOCOnDA project has been proposed for enhancing the data sharing processes in the cross-border area, particularly addressing tourism and mobility that are key economic activities for the region. For this work, a review on the data catalogues published in dati.lombardia.it and opendata.swiss is presented. The revision of the datasets showed the need for: 1) defining common semantics for the description of the categories of data to avoid the arbitrary use of vocabularies, and 2) adopting standards for the description of geodata. On the other hand, it was observed the potential to gather existing information to produce geodata querying the datasets with specific keywords that can provide spatial information. Open data, as well as the use of best practices for publishing data, push towards the use of FOSS. In this work, Python has been exploited to analyse the content of the catalogues to access web portals resources.
