Identification and typology of Czech post-industrial landscapes on national level using GIS and publicly accessed geodatabases

The post-industrial landscape (PIL) is a generally accepted phenomenon of the present world. Its features are fossil in comparison to those ones in operating industrial landscapes. The required knowledge about the position, size, shape and type of PIL will help decision makers plan PIL future. The paper deals with the selection of identification features of PILs. Applicable data must be related to four landscape structures: natural, economic (land use), social (human) and spiritual. Present Czech geodatabases contain sufficient quantity and quality of data they can be interpreted as source of PIL identification criteria. GIS technology was applied for such data collection, geometric and format pre-processing, thematic reclassification and final processing. Using selected identification and classification criteria, 105 PILs were identified on the Territory of Czech Republic and classified into individual types. A SWOT analysis of results was carried out to identify the reliability level of data and the data processing. The identified PILs represent the primary results generally obtained in the Czech Republic. GIS approach allows repeated procedures elsewhere in EU member states because of some similarity of available geodatabases. Of course, an improvement of classification procedure depends on the real situation in each country.