Viewpoint geosites and their potential for geoeducation and geotourism

Viewpoint geosites are locations which allow observation of the surrounding landscape and comprehension of geodiversity (or Earth history recorded in rocks, structures and landforms) visible from this locality. The sites themselves don‘t have to be attractive from the Earth-sciences point of view, so they may be both natural (e.g. rock outcrops, mountain tops) and man-made objects (e.g. watchtowers, view terraces). These sites represent a very important resource for geotourism and geoeducation as they allow understand landscape, its history and relationships between its components. In this paper, we present examples of viewpoints from Podyjí National Park (both natural and man-made structures) that allow to observe geodiversity of the area. For an effective management and rational use of these specific and important sites, it is necessary to identify their characteristics and potential, so the guidelines for inventorying and method for assessment their potential are proposed. These procedures can contribute to the development of geotourist and geoeducational activities and above all, they enable better understanding of geodiversity’s position within landscape and justify its conservation and sustainable use