UPDATE: Project details updated during the EPSA 2025-26 edition. Awarded Special Recognition for continuous improvement and long-term sustainability.
Context
Landslides and floods pose a significant threat to Italy, impacting the population, environment, cultural heritage, communication infrastructures and economic activities. Over the past 50 years, these events have resulted in more than 1 600 fatalities and an estimated annual damage costing between €1 billion and €3 billion. The Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale – ISPRA), in collaboration with the regions and autonomous provinces, has mapped over 621 000 landslides in the Italian Landslide Inventory. An estimated 1.3 million inhabitants, 548 000 families, 565 000 buildings, 84 000 industries and services, and 12 500 cultural assets are at risk from landslides in Italy. In response to these challenges, ISPRA developed ‘IdroGEO’ in 2019, an open access web platform that allows users to view, query, download and share maps and data on landslides and floods in Italy.
Objectives
The IdroGEO platform serves as a decision-making support system for policy-makers to plan risk mitigation strategies at national, regional and local scales. Moreover, IdroGEO provides information for managing civil protection emergencies, land use planning, designing civil infrastructures and conducting environmental impact assessments. Ultimately, it aims to reduce damage to people, public facilities, private buildings, economic activities and civil infrastructure by increasing citizens’ awareness of the risks affecting their territory. All these activities have social and economic implications, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.
Implementation
IdroGEO consists of two sections: the Italian Landslide Inventory (Inventario dei fenomeni franosi in Italia – IFFI), and the landslide and flood hazard maps and risk indicators. The platform was implemented in 2019–2020 with co-financing from the European Union, National Operational Programme on Governance and Institutional Capacity 2014–2020 under the project ‘Environmental Statistics for Cohesion Policies 2014–2020’. The total budget of €410 000 included a contribution of €189 000 for software development’ and maintenance and web servers, with ISPRA co-financing in kind (personnel costs) €221 000. The platform was co-designed and tested in collaboration with regional technical offices and the Italian National Council of Geologists (Consiglio Nazionale dei Geologi – CNG). Moreover, user feedback was gathered through a survey to assess the product and its services and tools. IdroGEO has been used, in the period 20 May 2020–30 October 2023, by 142 607 users with over 7.2 million views, and more than 40 000 downloads.
Developments
After the EPSA application was submitted, in the period 2023–2025, the IdroGEO (HydroGEO) national web platform was enhanced, as planned, with new tools, data, and services: an updated user interface, the 3D viewer, itineraries and stories, and landslide live webcam. A new section of the platform called Landslide Monitoring has been developed to provide updated state-of-the-art on landslide monitoring in Italy.
In addition, a new tool – Check the hazard – has also been developed in IdroGEO, which was not foreseen in the design phase. The tool allows citizens and companies to search for an address or geolocate themselves on a map and obtain basic level information on landslide and flood hazards in a 500 m buffer area from their home, economic, or productive activity, or a place of interest subject of a future investment. The tool was designed and developed following the introduction of mandatory insurance for businesses against natural disasters, introduced by the 2024 Italian Budget Law. The aim of the law is to increase the resilience of the Italian production system by stipulating insurance policies to cover damage to buildings and industrial equipment directly caused by events such as earthquakes, floods, and landslides.
The latest developed tool is the AI-powered virtual assistant that engages users in natural language dialogue, providing tailored explanations and answering questions about landslide and flood risks. These tools are designed not only to inform but also to actively involve users in understanding risk, thereby narrowing the gap between perceived and real risk.
Long-term impact
All objectives (100%) were achieved according to the project timeline. Total users increased by 114%, from 142 607 (October 2023) to over 305 000 (January 2026), and page views from 7.2 million to 17 million. These results confirm the growing public interest in IdroGEO platform.
Meetings with stakeholders and a thematic webinar, Landslide Mapping and Innovative Technologies for Monitoring (28 November 2024), were organised to collect feedback and user satisfaction on IdroGEO data, services, and tools from users.
To January 2026, information regarding over 684 000 landslides and 1024 landslide monitoring systems has been published on the IdroGEO platform, providing an overview of landslides and in situ monitoring systems existing in Italy.
The platform guarantees overtime data and interoperable mapping services on landslides, according to FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data principles.
All the data and the achieved results indicate that IdroGEO can actively contribute to understanding and reducing landslide disaster risk, as stated in the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.
Adjustment in the objectives
The national IdroGEO platform has been included in the General Directive of the Minister of the Environment of the Italian Government concerning the institutional tasks of ISPRA for the period 2024–2026, with the aim of ensuring consultation and interoperability services for data and maps of the Italian Landslide Inventory, the national hazard maps, and the risk indicators.
In the period 2026–2029, new developments for the IdroGEO platform are planned, funded by the 2021–2027 National Technical Assistance Programme Capacity for Cohesion (CapCoe) initiative, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund. New developments include a new release of the IdroGEO platform and an AI model for searching, and cataloguing web-based news on new landslides.