Geographic information system as a mapping and presentation tool of the DANUrB project

Viera Joklová, Nina Chochrunová

SUMMARY

One of the important outputs of the European project DANUrB is a digital platform that is used for communication and sharing of information among 39 project partners and associated partners, and for communicating the results of the research externally, thus integrating the expert and laic public, municipal authorities and local communities in their cooperation in creating the so called Danube Cultural Promenade and maintaining it also after the end of the project financing. This ensures the sustainability of project activities. At present, the process of preparing a methodology for the collaborative research platform that involved 13 university and research institutions has been completed. Local communities, professional organizations, entrepreneurs, cultural institutions as well as tourism experts have been asked to work together to create an inter-regional strategy based on a thorough research into a sustainable spatial cultural heritage system along the Danube. The research platform is currently being transformed into a structured web application of the project, which will help to increase the sharing of information about the culture of the Danube region. A geodatabase – a geographic information system that provides geographic data on individual Danube regions, natural and social cultural systems, and enables spatial analysis over a specific time horizon as well as constant updating is an indispensable part of the web application. The paper covers the basic principles of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), including the geospatial information rules and resources available in Slovakia and documents their application in the development of maps, databases and analytical documents in the DANUrB project. The actual research of the spatial potential of the natural and cultural heritage of the Slovak part of the Danube region is conducted in the Quantum GIS software by the project team of the FA STU in Bratislava composed of (without academic titles): Viera Joklová, Nina Chochrunová – Jančová, Kristína Kalašová, Martin Dubiny and Andrea Lacková, and with the support provided by the ongoing work on creating the database of cultural and natural heritage coordinated by Pavel Gregor, Katarína Kristiánová and Ján Urban. The currently developed GIS database thus constitutes a tool for collecting and organizing DANUrB project data and for developing a spatial system of the Danube Cultural Promenade that combines all layers of spatial, cultural and socio-economic aspects and will enable to determine the potential for development in the spatial context of the Danube Cultural Promenade.

Keywords: DANUrB, mapping, GIS, Danube cultural promenade, research