A New Way to Explore Volcanic Areas: QR-Code-Based Virtual Geotrail at Mt. Etna Volcano, Italy

Abstract

In this body of work, we showcase a historic virtual geotrail on the eastern flank of the iconic Mt. Etna volcano (Italy), along a series of outstanding geological sites and features subsequent to an important eruption that took place in 1928. A geohistoric account of such a major eruption, is of great interest, since it is the only event since 1669 to have caused the destruction of a town (Mascali) in the Etna region. Volcanologists, educators, the lay public, tourists and volcano explorers can now access a series of “virtual geostops” belonging to this virtual geotrail, such that “visitors” can virtually fly above these sites by scanning a QR code on the printed or electronic version of the present manuscript, as well as on the poster provided as additional material for this manuscript. The virtual geostops that comprise the virtual geotrail were developed using the structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry technique from images captured by using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The main result of our work is the virtual geotrail, subdivided in two parts and composed of eight geostops, each showing outstanding examples of geological features resulting from volcanic phenomena that took place also during 1979. Our approach is designed to support classical field trips, and it can undoubtedly become complementary to traditional field teaching in earth sciences, both now and in the future.