Viewpoints and visibility analysis: a case study on the UNESCO site of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato (Piemonte Region)

The present work is based on the coupling between the visibility analysis based on viewsheds/cumulative viewsheds (binary maps) and the study conducted at a regional level that identifies points that can be considered and that should be preserved. Visual landscape assessment methods can now exploit the resources that public administrations shares within the open data normative requirements. This implies a further valorisation of the investments done though the creation and update of geographical data. The scope of this work is not to obtain a static map, but to set out an interactive tool that, based on visibility analyses, can be used to measure the landscape sensitivity of sites. The area named “Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato ", listed as the 50th Italian site in the World Heritage UNESCO list, was identified as a case study, since it is a cultural landscape of exceptional and universal value. The information provided by this application may be used into the regulatory framework for all the authorization process of new developments in preserved areas. The objective is to provide technicians and local administrators tools based on objective data for the conservation, preservation and valorization of the landscape on one side, and for the development of economic activities that can promote a sustainable development of such peculiar locations