Nowadays, the economic interest for mountain regions is increasing. In this context, the management of these territories is of growing significance and therefore has become also the target of topographic and geodetic monitoring. More and more, decisions concerning mountain areas are taken by authorities located far away from the areas of interest. Therefore, reliable extensive information is required to recommend or to adopt realistic and sustainable measures. Management of spatial data by means of Geographic Information System (GIS) plays an essential role based on the latest achievements in Geomatics domain. The main purpose of this research is to create an adequate and complete Geographic Information System which will act as a base for the speleological research carried out in the Semenic – Caraş Gorges National Park which includes part of the largest karstic area in Romania. This research theme was chosen because surveyors possess an important experience in maintaining huge spatial databases at a very high level of reliability. The study points out over 600 speleological cavities in the National Park of Semenic, taking also into consideration the surface features. Seeing that speleology is a multidisciplinary science, we aim to compile a large number of data from different fields (karstology, topography, hydrology), thus creating a comprehensive database, accessible through the software interface which can be used in a large number of scenarios (the development of thematic trails, natural resource management, cave conservation etc.). The proposed Geographic Information System is, first of all, a tool for scientific research carried out in the karstic environment in the National Park, but can also become a powerful aid of the National Park Administration guiding to an efficient land management.

geomatics, surveying, environmental engineering, GIS, speleology, karstic area

Presentation: oral