Beauty and danger : the Għar Lapsi case for spatial information integration

Abstract

Spatial data integration across diverse technologies, methods and analytics is gaining ground through enhanced research functionality throughout the data cycle. Projects employing the entire data cycle in conjunction with readily available tools both opensource and proprietary, have become common place across the domains, as evidenced in this publication. The terrestrial, bathymetric, aerial and underground domains spanning the physical, natural and social environments have reached fulfillment in delivering useful outputs that are fundamentally spatial based. Spatial information has reached the desks of policy makers and decision takers, such that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the makers and takers to push forward an outcome when faced by an informed public and significant others who posit their feedback and consultations on an informed based: a spatial baseline. This case study depicts an exploration into the integration of various methods and technologies to aid decision-makers to preserve a beautiful but also a dangerous site. Use of a drone (UAV), a terrestrial laser scanner and a backpack laser scanner, enable the creation of an integrated dataset that depicted the structural status of the area, interesting findings and a case for intervention.