Multi-scale Web Mapping for Geoheritage Visualisation and Promotion

Due to the renewed interest for sites of geological
interest, both in nature conservation and tourist sectors, numerous
regional and national geosite inventories have been
carried out in several countries during the last two decades.
For this purpose, various assessment methods have been
developed and published. The issue of the representation of
the results of inventories—in particular, the mapping system,
the question of updating data—remains open. Moreover, if in
the field of nature conservation, practitioners are used to
working with GIS, it is not the case in the tourist sector where
data must be delivered to the users in open-access and easy-touse
formats. This paper discusses what opportunities of web
mapping methods and techniques there are in the domain of
geoheritage assessment and promotion. A web mapping application
in Google Maps application programming interface
(API) framework is proposed to disseminate the results of
geosite inventories carried out in Switzerland both at national
and regional scales. The interest of the proposed application is
discussed according to three main criteria: mapping interests
and limitations, management purposes and interpretive issues.