Settore Pianificazione Territoriale e Energia Description of pilot project area and verification of the method Project team Project manager Manuela Ranghino Staff Emanuela Broglia, Davide Benasso, Margherita Crosio, Enrico Giordano, Paola Lamberti, Cristiana Merani, Claudio Mombelli, Veronica Platinetti. Secretary Carla Erbetta

Piedmont Region is located in the north west of the italian peninsula and borders with France and Switzerland. The Province of Vercelli is located in the north east of Piedmont Region bordering: -To the west with Valle d’Aosta and Provinces of Biella and Torino -To the north with Switzerland and Province of Verbania -To the east with Provinces of Verbania, Novara and Pavia -To the south with Provinces of Alessandria and Torino Geographical context

Pilot progect area has an extension of ha corrisponding to the 62% of the provincial area and occupies the south central portion. The whole province includes 86 municipalities, of which 55 are part of the progect area. The province has a population of 177,280 inhabitants, of which 78% reside in the study area. The population density is equal to 108 people/Km2. Descriptive and statistics date POPULATION AREA

The predominantly agricultural area is characterized by medium to small towns. The number of inhabitants varies from 45,000 for the capital, to 438 in the less populated center. The territorial extension ranging from 80 Km2 of the capital to 6 Km2 of the center with smaller land area.

Progect area includes the western slope of the basin of the river Sesia and to the south the north slope of Dora Baltea and Po. It ‘s also affected by a complex system of irrigation canals, the most important of which is the Cavour Canal. HYDROGRAPHY

Vercelli is “the land of water”. Over the centuries man has set up a dense network of artificial waterways. Water guarantees crops irrigation and rice cultivation. In the past waterways have been used olso to produce energy useful for the processing of agricultural products and other processing that required mechanical energy. The first waterways dating from the fourteenth century. The presence of big feudal and ecclesiastical agricultural land, facilitated their construction. Were the Cistercian monks of the Abbey of Lucedio, that introduced and spread the cultivation of rice.

The project area is characterized by good roads and rail links. Vercelli is one of the nodes of the railway line Turin-Milan, and the territory is crossed by the high-capacity railway line. The area is also placed at the center of a highway network. INFRASTRUCTURE AND ACCESSIBILITY

The territory is mostly flat with hills to the north and to the west of project area. MORPHOLOGY

The plain area is mainly characterized by an industrialized agricultural system, dominated by rice in submerged culture. The hilly areas are characterized by a diversified agricultural system with presence of vineyards, orchards and dry crops. LAND USE

The analysis methodology proposed intent to verify the contents of landscape plans drow up at different levels. Specifically, we analyzed the Regional Landscape Plan (PPR) and the The Provincial Plan of Territorial Coordination (PTCP). ANALYSIS AND MAKING SYSTEM OF INFORMATION IN TERMS OF LANDSCAPE

The Piedmont Region has adopted the PPR in August 2009, not yet in force becouse it hasn’t completed the approval process. The PPR has been prepared in accordance to the contents of the European Charter of Landscape and regulates the whole region. ANALYSIS AND MAKING SYSTEM OF INFORMATION IN TERMS OF LANDSCAPE Map P4.3 Landscape Components Regional Landscape Plan (PPR)

The Provincial Plan of Territorial Coordination is the planning tool that defines the territory attitude considering interest at local level, and working respecting the lines of action of the regional planning. The PTCP of our province had been approved in 2009 and it was drawn up with particular attention to landscape, nature protection, water protection, soil conservation and has assumed significance in regulatory landscape. Provincial Plan of Territorial Coordination (PTCP)

Map A “Protection and enhancement of the landscape as a system of ecosystems” The following maps are an extract of plan tables and rappresent the project area. The analisys start with “map A” that consider, at first, the landscape as a system of ecosystems. The Plan has identified, using the methods of landscape ecology, a series of environmental systems to which are associated homogeneous rules. The systems differ depending on the level of naturalness and landscape value.

Map B “Protection and enhancement of cultural, historical and environmental heritage” “Map B” represents the portions of territory subjected to special rules for the protection and enhancement of historical and architectural heritage.

Map C “Prevention and reduction of hydrogeological risk” “Map C” identifies the areas with different propensity to hydrogeological instability, areas with limited depth to groundwater and the areas affected by the phenomenon of resurgence.

Map D Land settlements and infrastructures arrangement “Map D”, represents the main steps planned for infrastructure, the strategic areas for industrial, logistics and service development.

Map E Planning and design at the provincial level “Map E”, represents the areas that for their strategic value are subject to detailed design. The pilot project area is interested by two areas affected by territorial projects operating, the area of the Grange di Lucedio and the “Baragge zone”.

-A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. - GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts. G.I.S. – Geographic Information System

Layers - LevelsData Types Vettoriali Raster Il “mondo reale” Strade Edifici Proprietari GIS – Data Models

Metadata is loosely defined as data about data. Metadata is a concept that applies mainly to electronically archived or presented data and is used to describe the a) definition, b) structure and c) administration of data files with all contents to ease the use of the captured and archived data for further use.data filescontents For example: - means of creation of the data, - purpose of the data, - time and date of creation, - creator or author of data, - placement on a computer network where the data was created, standards usedcomputer networkstandards About the data related to the GIS of The Province of Vercelli, in particular there are the following standards: - Type of geographic data = Shapefile - Geographic coordinate system = UTM ED50 - Metadata = EU Directive 2007/2/CE “Inspire” Metadata and GIS Standards