Potential Contributions of Geomatics to Garden Design, Landscape Planning and Plant Disease Management

The cross-disciplinary approach provided in this work has been applied on a case study located in the province of Alessandria, within the ‘cultural landscape’ of Lower Monferrato, (Piemonte, NW Italy). From a methodological point of view, a comparison was achieved between the native design of the garden (dated back to the end of the sixties) and the actual one, as it developed along the time. For that purpose, a UAV-based survey was operated to define the present situation. A true color orthomosaic and a Digital Surface Model were derived and used for the comparison that occurred in a GIS environment. A botanical and phytopathological field survey was coupled to the UAV acquisition and a cross-reading analysis with historical sources (maps) achieved. As extensively documented in this essay, the interpretative tools provided by Geomatics made possible to quantify and locate the differences affecting the realization of the project and qualifying the present situation in terms of botanic content and phytopathological features. Some concerns were also provided about the potentiality that vegetation offers in protecting the private garden from external looks through some visibility analyses. A GIS project was finally structured to host all the obtained information, making possible a more effective management of the garden and improving consciousness in its evolution, aiming at the generation of scenarios useful for supporting conservation, planning and management choices and preventing the cancellation of such a valuable heritage over time.