Roma Capitale has begun work to make possible the mapping, monitoring and maintenance of Rome’s green heritage through the use of digital and satellite technology. Rome’s green heritage is extremely significant and distributed in what is by far the largest territory in Italy among municipalities.
The digital platform will provide data covering all green areas and monitor their health status so that interventions can be planned effectively.
The platform enables the administration to manage all phases of surveying, inspection and documentation of interventions and the health status of individual trees making it possible to implement a constantly updated database and related scheduling of care interventions.
Greenspaces, in addition, allows monitoring of the status of the furniture elements of green areas, play and fitness areas, and dog areas and provides updates on necessary maintenance interventions. The reporting stages, timing and manner of these interventions are recorded.
The platform, designed by the company R3GIS, thanks to the collaboration withISPRA, allows georeferencing and monitoring of the network of wells and public irrigation systems. The data uploaded to Greenspaces are the result of satellite remote sensing performed by E-Geos, the Telespazio company with which a partnership was signed.
Specific training courses involving the technical staff of the Capitoline Department of Environmental Protection and those of the Municipalities have been carried out to use the platform.
The starting point of the work was the updating of the green areas cadastre, which started from the Municipality XIV as a test area and aims to complete the data of all green areas in the 15 municipalities of Rome by 2025 through: the definition on a map of green areas, play areas, dog areas and other types of public spaces, the inclusion of the elements present in the areas that are managed, from trees to playground equipment, benches, wells, etc., the geolocation through Mobile App of the objects surveyed directly in the field.
A particularly innovative aspect of the project is the integration of artificial intelligence to create digital twins of trees. Currently in use for street trees on Christopher Columbus Avenue, the intention is to extend it to all street trees in Rome by the end of 2025. The digital twin enables monitoring of the health status of plants, contributing to the safety of public places and the assessment of ecosystem services. In addition, to communicate the value of urban greenery to citizens and actively involve them in its management, it is planned to create a public portal by the end of 2026.The administration’s goal is to have a working tool to which all those involved in the care of plants, parks, gardens, and recreational and fitness areas contribute in the continuous updating of data. In addition, the platform will be, in the future, a direct channel of communication with citizens allowing, through reports, timely and timely interventions.
