Poster

Population proximity to geotourism destinations:
Geosites in Poland and Slovakia and geoparks in Czechia
Anna CHROBAK - Pedagogical University of Cracow, Institute of Geography, Poland
Pavol HURBÁNEK - Catholic University in Ružomberok, Faculty of Education, Department of Geography, Slovakia
Konštantín ROSINA - Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geography, Slovakia
INTRODUCTION
GEOSITE – a landform with a specific shape, which alone or in collaboration with other bioecological or anthropic
elements can become objects of heritage. The geosite as a landform represents the particular aspects of the relief
determined by the morphogenetic processes and the geologic sublayer (Ilies and Josan 2009).
GEOPARK – nationally protected area containing a number of geological heritage sites of particular importance, rarity
or aesthetic appeal. These Earth heritage sites are part of an integrated concept of protection, education and sustainable
development. A geopark achieves its goals through a three-pronged approach: conservation, education, geotourism
(UNESCO Global Geoparks Network 2006).
GEOTOURISM – a form of natural area tourism that specifically focuses on landscape and geology. It promotes tourism
to geosites and the conservation of geo-diversity and an understanding of Earth sciences through appreciation
and learning. This is achieved through independent visits to geological features, use of geotrails and view points, guided
tours, geo-activities and patronage of geosite visitors centres (Newsome and Dowing 2010).
OBJECTIVES
In this study, the proximity of population to geotourism destinations is assessed on the example of 479 geosites
in Slovakia (as of 30/11/2011, Liščák et al. 2011) and 1,673 geosites in Poland (PIG-PIB 2014). It should be noted
that there are also other lists of geosites in Poland, for example 175 geosites by Alexandrowicz et al. (2006) and 172
geosites by Słomka et al. (2012), however only the largest database of Polish geosites is used in this contribution.
Since a database of all the geosites in Czechia will not be availbable before the end of 2014 (as of 22/10/2014 there
are only 680 geosites - Gürtlerová et al. 2014), the proximity of population to geotourism destinations will be assessed
on the example of ten geoparks in Czechia, six of which are national geoparks and the rest candidate geoparks
(Čtveráková 2014, Čtveráková and Červinková 2014).
GENERATION OF A DETAILED 100 m POPULATION GRID
SLOVAKIA - Proportional volumetric disaggregation from smallest available census zones (basic settlement units
with average size 7 km2 - SEA 2014) based on a very suitable ancillary dataset (so called ZBGIS - GCCA SR 2014)
of residential building footprints and heights.
CZECHIA - Proportional areal disaggregation from smallest available census zones (1 km2 grid cells - EUROSTAT 2014)
based on Imperviousness Layer 2009 (CLMS 2014a), after masking of major road and rail networks using OpenStreetMap
and major non-residential urban polygons using CORINE Land Cover 2006 (CLMS 2014b)
POLAND - Disaggregation to 100 m resolution was not pursued due to relatively high share of source zones (1 km2 grid
cells - EUROSTAT 2014) that contain only zero values of intended ancillary data (masked Imperviousness Layer 2009 CLMS 2014a) and especially due to high share (3.6 %) of population living in such cells (Tab. 1).
This research was supported by the Slovak
Scientific Grant Agency VEGA project
no. 1/0275/13 “Production, verification
and application of population and
settlement spatial models based on
European land monitoring services”.
Fig. 1 Map of european geoparks which are included in the
Global Geoparks Network and/or European Geoparks Network.
% of
inhabi2011 population grid ted
of 1 km2 grid cells
cells
from
all cells
Poland GEOSTAT
62.80
(bottom-up)
Czechia GEOSTAT
55.10
(bottom-up)
Slovakia ZBGIS
34.30
(top-down)
Slovakia GEOSTAT
30.70
(top-down)
% of inhabited
% of population living
cells with no
in inhabited cells
impervious land
with no impervious
in IL 2009 from
land in IL 2009 from
the total number the total population
of inhabited cells
of the country
30.70
3.60
20.60
0.80
21.30
0.80
0.00*
0.00*
Tab. 1 Comparison between the spatial distribution of population
(in four different 2011 population grids) and the spatial
distribution of impervious land (in Imperviousness Layer IL 2009)
Note: * Slovakia GEOSTAT (top-down) population grid was
prepared using IL 2009 as an ancillary dataset. Therefore, 1 km2
grid cells with no impervious land in IL 2009 have no population in
Slovakia GEOSTAT (top-down).
REFERENCES
Alexandrowicz, Zofia (ed.) et al. (2012): Database of Polish Representative Geosites. Instytut Ochrony Przyrody Polskiej Akademii Nauk / Institute of Nature Conservation of
the Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, and ProGEO - Europejska Asocjacja Ochrony Dziedzictwa Geologicznego / The European Association for the Conservation of the
Geological Heritage, Uppsala, Available online [21/09/2014]: http://www.iop.krakow.pl/geosites/
CLMS (2014a): Imperviousness Layer (IL) 2009. Copernicus Land Monitoring Services. Available online [22/10/2014]: http://land.copernicus.eu/pan-european/high-resolutionlayers/imperviousness/view
CLMS (2014b): CORINE Land Cover 2006. Copernicus Land Monitoring Services. Available online [22/10/2014]: http://land.copernicus.eu/pan-european/corine-landcover/view
Čtveráková, Iveta (2014): Geoturismus – příležitost k ochraně a rozvoji území. Geografie v srdci Evropy. 23. sjezd České geografické společnosti a 16. kongres Slovenskej
geografickej spoločnosti, 25–28/08/2014, Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Přírodovědecká fakulta, Praha, p. 232, Available online [21/09/2014]: http://www.cgssgs2014.cz/sbornik-abstrakt/
Čtveráková, Iveta - Červinková, Romana (2014): Geoparky – nová příležitost pro rozvoj venkovského prostoru. Geografie v srdci Evropy. 23. sjezd České geografické
společnosti a 16. kongres Slovenskej geografickej spoločnosti, 25–28/08/2014, Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Přírodovědecká fakulta, Praha, p. 128, Available online
[21/09/2014]: http://www.cgs-sgs2014.cz/sbornik-abstrakt/
EUROSTAT (2014): GEOSTAT Project. Available online [22/10/2014]:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/gisco_Geographical_information_maps/geostat_project
GCCA SR (2014): Data ZBGIS / Údaje ZBGIS. Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Authority of Slovak Republic / Úrad geodézie, kartografie a katastra. Available online
[22/10/2014]: http://www.geoportal.sk/sk/udaje/udaje-zbgis/udaje-zbgis/
Gürtlerová, Pavla et al. (2014): Významné geologické lokality v České republice / Significant geological localities of the Czech Republic. Česká geologická služba / Czech
Geological Survey, Praha, Available online [22/10/2014]: http://lokality.geology.cz/d.pl?item=3
Liščák, Pavel et al. (2011): Informačný systém významných geologických lokalít SR / Information System of Important Geological Sites in Slovak Republic. Štátny geologický
ústav Dionýza Štúra / State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr, Bratislava, Available online [21/09/2014]: http://mserver.geology.sk:8085/g_vgl/
PIG-PIB (2014): Centralny Rejestr Geostanowisk Polski / Polish Central Register of Geosites. Państwowy Instytut Geologiczny - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy / Polish
Geological Institute – National Research Institute, Warszawa, Available online [21/09/2014]: http://geoportal.pgi.gov.pl/portal/page/portal/geostanowiska
SEA (2014): Register of basic settlement units (BSU) / Register základných sídelných jednotiek (ZSJ). Slovak Environmental Agency / Slovenská agentúra životného prostredia.
Available online [22/10/2014]: http://rzsj.enviroportal.sk/prehliadac/
CZECHIA - National and Candidate Geoparks
at least 1
90
at least 10
80
at least 20
70
at least 30
at least 40
60
at least 50
50
at least 100
40
at least 150
30
at least 200
20
at least 250
10
at least 300
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Distance from the nearest geosite (km)
at least 350
100
at least 1
90
at least 10
80
at least 20
70
at least 30
60
50
at least 40
40
at least 50
30
at least 100
20
at least 150
10
at least 200
0
at least 400
at least 450
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
at least 250
Distance from the nearest geosite (km)
at least 300
100
at least 1
100
90
at least 10
90
80
at least 20
70
at least 30
at least 40
60
at least 50
50
at least 100
40
at least 150
30
at least 200
20
at least 250
10
at least 300
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Distance from the nearest geosite (km)
at least 350
at least 400
at least 450
Proportion of the total area of the
country (%)
Proportion of the total area of the
country (%)
Percentage of the total area of the country within the distance of 0 - 100 km from the nearest geosite
Number of geosites accessible within the given distance (distance measured "as the crow flies")
Percentage of the total population of the country within the distance of 0 - 100 km from the nearest geopark
Number of geoparks accessible within the given distance (distance measured "as the crow flies")
80
at least 20
70
at least 30
60
50
at least 40
40
at least 50
30
at least 100
20
at least 150
10
at least 200
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
at least 250
Distance from the nearest geosite (km)
at least 300
90
80
at least 1
70
at least 2
60
at least 3
50
at least 4
40
at least 5
30
at least 6
20
10
at least 7
0
at least 8
0
100
90
80
70
60
at least 1
50
at least 2
40
at least 3
30
at least 4
20
at least 5
10
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0
Distance from the nearest national or candidate geopark (km)
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Distance from the nearest national geopark (km)
Percentage of the total area of the country within the distance of 0 - 100 km from the nearest geopark
Number of geoparks accessible within the given distance (distance measured "as the crow flies")
at least 1
at least 10
100
Proportion of the total population of the
country (%)
100
Proportion of the total population of the
country (%)
Proportion of the total population of the
country (%)
Percentage of the total population of the country within the distance of 0 - 100 km from the nearest geosite
Number of geosites accessible within the given distance (distance measured "as the crow flies")
CZECHIA - National Geoparks
100
100
90
90
80
at least 1
70
at least 2
60
at least 3
50
at least 4
40
at least 5
30
at least 6
20
at least 7
10
at least 8
0
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Distance from the nearest national or candidate geopark (km)
Proportion of the total area of the
country (%)
SLOVAKIA - Geosites
Proportion of the total area of the
country (%)
POLAND - Geosites
Proportion of the total population of the
country (%)
Fig. 2 Geotourism destinations and population density in Poland,
Slovakia and Czechia. Data sources are listed in the text.
Słomka, Tadeusz (ed.) et al. (2012): Katalog obiektów geoturystycznych w obrębie pomników i rezerwatów przyrody nieożywionej / The catalogue of geotourist sites in nature
reserves and monuments. Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza, Wydział Geologii, Geofizyki i Ochrony Środowiska, Katedra Geologii Ogólnej i Geoturystyki / University of Science and
Technology, Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environment Protection, Department of General Geology and Geotourism, Krakow, Available online [21/09/2014]:
http://www.kgos.agh.edu.pl/download/Katalog_Obiekow_Geoturystycznych_2012.pdf
80
70
60
at least 1
50
at least 2
40
at least 3
30
at least 4
20
at least 5
10
0
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Distance from the nearest national geopark (km)