The application of modern technologies of Geomatics in the Engineering Geology

The Geomatics, also known as geospatial technology or geomatics engineering, refers to the set of disciplines that deal to gather, interpret, process, model, store and deliver geographic information. The Geomatics, among the others, includes tools and techniques referable to land surveying and positioning (i.e. topography, Global-Navigation Satellite Systems - GNSS), satellite, aerial and ground-based remote sensing (i.e. digital photogrammetry, laser scanning, Remotely Piloted Aircraft System - RPAS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), digital mapping and geostatistics. In recent decades, thanks to technological advances, these tools have been increasingly spread and used in the study of geological hazard and risk. In fact, these techniques provide innovative tools not only in supporting cartographic products but also in the analysis and the quantitative measurement of geological processes located in inaccessible areas at different scales. Nowadays, it is possible to remotely collect a deterministic series of data which characterizes in detail the structural geological setting and the geomorphology of a studied area. Applications of engineering geology, as for example the hydro-geological risk assessment, the rock fall runout modelling, or the slope stability analysis, can have a great benefit by the use of remote sensing data based on satellite platforms, aircrafts and RPAS. Many currently operational missions (i.e. optical, multispectral, SAR), as well as ground-based methodologies (i.e. total station, laser scanning, IR thermography) continue their widespread use, as proved by the increasing number of scientific papers based on such applications. Recently, mobile terrestrial laser scanning is emerging as a remote data collection technique capable of generating accurate fully three-dimensional virtual models while moving at different speeds. During the presentation, the processes of extraction of topographic and geothematic information will be shown and the development of additional methods for producing spatial data containing numerical information with a multi-temporal nature presented. Examples of processing of satellite imagery and photos, both from aircraft and RPAS, will be shown in association with 3D data for the production of digital models to be used in the extraction of engineering geological information. The theoretical fundamentals of the involved disciplines will be also re-called and case histories of geological events related to the national territory shown.