Web GIS in mountaineering in Croatia

Using maps is inevitable in many human activities as well as in mountaineering. Until recently, most of the spatial and attribute data of the mountaineer’s interest could have been found only in analog form. With the development of information technology, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), easily accessible measuring sensors and digital cameras, it is easier to collect, store, visualize, share, and update spatial data. The web GIS with its associated applications assumes dominance in browsing and dissemination of spatial data, and is applied in areas where there is a need for processing, analysis and visualization of various data that contain a spatial component, including mountaineering. When planning hiking, mountaineers need both spatial and attribute information on mountaineering facilities, checkpoints, and hiking trails in the form of GNSS traces. Through the interactive web application interface, it is possible to connect all these data, enabling easy viewing, browsing and analysis, or performing various spatial queries, which greatly facilitates the planning of hiking excursions. This paper presents a review and comparison of four most visited Croatian mountaineering portals: HPS’s Interactive Mountaineering Map of Croatia, Mountaineering portal and Geodetic mountaineering portal developed at the Faculty of Geodesy of the University of Zagreb and planinarenje.hr portal developed by the group of mountain enthusiasts. Numerous data on Croatian mountains and peaks, mountain facilities, huts and hiking trails are now accessible through portals to anyone with Internet connection, either with the computers, tablets or smartphones. All users can browse, filter and download data from the portal, and there are additional options for authorized users such as commenting on portal content. Several thematic portals of neighboring countries were also analyzed (portal of the Slovenian Mountaineering Association, Slovak mountaineering portal and one Swiss mountaineering portal) and compared with Croatian portals. Finally, the importance of the web GIS portals for the development of mountaineering tourism was emphasized, as well as the ecological culture and the sustainability of the mountaineering environment (preservation of mountain trails and facilities, protection of endemic plants, karst and geological features, etc.).

Highlights for public administration, management and planning:

• The presented web GIS represent an effective and efficient tool for planning and conducting trips in mountain areas as it allows better organization and management of mountain content for the tourists and other hikers.

• Registered users can participate in the portal update (e.g. peak or hill endonyms) and this can be used by State Geodetic Administration for their register of geographical names (http://rgi.dgu.hr/pretrazivanje)

• The Web GIS can also be used as a support in the tourism development of local mountain areas with respect to the ecological culture and sustainability of the mountain environment.