MULTI-SCALE AND MULTI-SENSOR APPROACHES FOR THE PROTECTION OF CULTURAL NATURAL HERITAGE: THE ISLAND OF SANTO SPIRITO IN VENICE

Abstract. The study of Cultural Natural Heritage (CNH) requires the development of multi-disciplinary and multi-scale methodologies for data recording, representation, and correlation from various platforms such as terrestrial, aerial and satellite sensors. The heterogeneity of geo-databases currently available demands on-site validation and time monitoring to control the phenomena related to climate change that inevitably affect the Cultural Heritage (CH). The pressures stressing the territorial dimension due to climatic changes lead to the decrease of essential resources and burden on the CH. To overcome the lack of information needed at various territorial scales, it becomes necessary to construct detailed and dynamic cognitive frameworks. This paper establishes a multitemporal information framework regarding the case study area, the Island of Santo Spirito in Venice, using several geomatic techniques to investigate the island's ecological significance and constructed heritage. The suggested methodology uses the integration of multitemporal data resulting from the processing of satellite images provided by the Copernicus satellites (Sentinel-2) and data from geomatic documentation techniques. Two separate methods were used in the survey operations: a Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) and aerial photogrammetry from Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAV) survey. The integration of satellite, aerial, and terrestrial data has allowed a complete knowledge of the necessary parameters for the monitoring of the CH of the area. In order to manage conservative policy from a preventive perspective and to recreate and digitally visualize missing historical phases, programmed monitoring is a crucial instrument.