Using spatial technologies in geoconservation and geotourism

Conservation of novel, representative and diverse landforms, rocks and soils is termed ‘Geoheritage Conservation.’ Conservation of geoheritage is both popular and supported by robust assessment criteria in parts of Europe and China, where preservation occurs in UNESCO and local geoparks and via formalised inventory listings and conservation covenants. As geoheritage conservation expands as a discipline globally, it has become apparent that new tools are required to assist practitioners and researchers to communicate, remotely assess and detect, visualise and educate others about geoheritage. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing tools are obvious complements to geoheritage conservation, due to their applicability across all facets of the conservation lifecycle. In this presentation, we describe approaches to geoheritage conservation and the ways in which GIS and remote sensing can be used to enhance decision support and communication/education objectives. We use the second most geodiverse landscape on the planet –Tasmania – to illustrate our presentation.