Implementing open-source information systems for assessing and managing the seismic vulnerability of historical constructions

Abstract

Reducing the uncertainty about the structural vulnerability of historical constructions comprises the selection of reasonably generalised approaches in a context of a significant typological variability; the difficulty of performing large-scale assessments with reasonable reliability; and the lack of dedicated infrastructures for efficiently storing, sharing, managing, and updating data – an issue that is even more relevant for small (and often isolated) settlements. This work presents a proposal to set up a geographic database for surveying, calculating and storing the seismic vulnerability index of masonry constructions using an adapted version of the GNDT-II approach. Some critical steps for setting up Geographical Information System (GIS) databases for storing and managing the fields of a parameter-based vulnerability assessment are presented. Then, some alternatives for distributing the database are introduced, including cloud-based distribution and Transactional Web Feature Service (WFS-T) protocols, even using virtual servers. Additionally, an alternative front-end for accessing data and calculating the vulnerability index of constructions and levels of damage is presented. The main objective is to offer a replicable and feasible workflow to be performed even with reduced infrastructure and computational resources but can be easily connected and associated to a progressively enlarged system based on free and open-source software.