Physiographic types and units

Landscape physiographic types and units

In order to classify and map the Italian landscape, it was defined a territorial unit of reference named 'Landscape physiographic unit", to represent portions of geographically defined territory with specific physiographic features and land cover pattern.
Each of these units refers to one of 37 "Landscape physiographic units and types" recognized and coded for the Italian territory trhoughtout the work.
The main classification criteria for landscapes at the scale 1:250,000, chosen after a dedicated experimental phase, are the litho-geomorphologic features and the structure of relief (elevation, aspect, slope, energy) and their distribution in the space (summarizing, the physiography).
At such a scale, other landscape physiographic aspects, like cover pattern (vegetation and anthropogenic feature) and pedology, turned out to be not representative enough to differenciate the landscape types; rather, they represent a mosaic within each unit, which can be used at the higher scales of the system.

Remote sensing was chosen as the main method of investigation, as it allows a synoptic study of the territory, consistent with the objective of mapping complex systemic units such as landscapes.

In the whole territory 2160 "Physiographic landscape units" were mapped, by stereoscopic photo interpretation, using cartographic ancillary data ( Map of the physiographic types and units of Italy" scale 1:250.000). All of the maps, descriptions and related data are organized in a Geographic Information System.