GIS As Tool For Geosite Awareness

 In the last decade there has been a focus on the dissemination of international, national, and municipal data making them available for consultation or for download and future processing by the population in GIS programs. This data is made available through Geoportals, which are portals to Internet-based geospatial resources, allowing users to discover, view and access geospatial information and services provided by a wide range of organisations. From this data there are unlimited options for analysis by users, including students and teachers, such as making maps, 3D models and other applications.

One of the examples of practical applications is the development of storymaps, based on web applications that allow to tell a story in a dynamic way combining geographical maps with text and other multimedia contents. These applications are increasingly used in scientific dissemination, as well as educational tool within a wide range of themes. They have thus also great potential to enable the awareness about the geoparks and the geosites values to all the public in an interactive and appealing way. Accordingly, we developed, in the context of the Algarvensis aspiring Geopark, a Story Map regarding the walking path - PR4 Escarpão Plateau, in which the history of this geomorphological entity is told, and suggestions are made on how to explore it in several locations along the 8 km route. This digital educational resource can be used to explore the geosite during the walking route, but also as a virtual field trip in a classroom context.