Standards for the digital representation and archiving of Seismic Microzonation (MS) studies
The standards for digital representation and archiving, originally created as a tool to support developers in facilitating and standardizing the processing of seismic microzonation (MS) maps produced with funding under Article 11 of Law 77/09, have become a reference tool for the creation of legends, the use of symbols, and the population of database tables associated with shapefiles. They are a “dynamic” tool that has been updated multiple times, incorporating numerous comments, and has been progressively improved over time, in part thanks to their use by implementing entities.
The objectives of the standards are:
- to enable the development of representations that focus solely on the elements and themes relevant to the MS studies conducted for the purposes of Article 11 of Law 77/09 (the National Fund for Seismic Risk Prevention), with a view to simplifying and summarizing the content;
- to ensure consistency in how these themes are presented by the entities conducting the studies, thereby facilitating the interpretation and comparison of results across different areas;
- to ensure a data archiving system that is as simple and flexible as possible.
The standards are not intended to represent all possible geological and geomorphological information observable across the country, but only that which is relevant to the preparation of seismic microzonation maps. For this reason, for example, information on geological units has been limited to well-defined lithologies; similarly, morphological elements, both linear and areal, are restricted to those relevant for identifying instabilities and potential seismic amplification.
The standards also facilitate the integration of studies submitted by the Regions into an archiving system that enables their consultation and comparison. This consultation covers both the cartographic materials and the databases associated with the surveys conducted throughout the territory.
To facilitate the entry of alphanumeric data by implementing entities for sites, surveys, and survey parameters for MS studies, in accordance with the archiving standards approved by the MS Technical Commission (Resolution No. 3907/10), the “SoftMS” software has been developed. The software facilitates the generation of survey identifiers and ensures uniformity and consistency in data entry. It also allows data to be printed on a standard form (which may also be used for paper-based data collection).
SoftMS is not part of the standards but serves as an additional operational tool available to practitioners in this field.