A WebGIS application for Precision Viticulture: from research to operative practices.

Demands for geospatial information and geodata accessibility to support vineyard management using new technology for precision farming are increasing worldwide. In this paper a WebGIS application is presented, it has been developed to support the on-going researches of Consorzio Tuscania Project on precision viticulture in Tuscany, aiming at the assessment of the impact of different vineyard canopy management techniques on grape quality. Within this framework, a parallel goal was also to build a Web service to support operational applications for agronomic treatments and grape harvest and to provide digital images for mobile devices that can be also integrated on agricultural machineries. A geoportal has been developed to organize geospatial data and services through (i) a viewer, (ii) a catalogue containing metadata records and (iii) a geodatabase where all data and results of Research Project are stored. Thanks to web services, users can view, analyse and download vegetation indices derived from airborne remote sensing high-resolution products, agrometeorological data of a Wireless Sensor Network located in the vineyards and others reference data to support vineyard precision farming practices. The web architecture as well as the user interface were implemented using open source tools in order to guarantee the web application sustainability and the implementation of customized geospatial functions required by the project stakeholders. MapServer was used with PHP/Ajax technologies to develop all components of Web mapping application and PostgreSQL was used as data warehouse for geodata and alphanumeric data management. On-the-fly processing and map visualization show the high potentialities in a reliable, accessible and personalized use of Internet to monitor the vineyards characteristics during the growing season and to improve grape harvest management.