FOSS4G IT & OSMit 2026

Authors: Christian Orlando (1), Sara Cucchiaro (1), Eleonora Maset (2), Alberto De Luca (1), Marco Cavalli (3), Stefano Crema (3), Alessandro Sarretta (3) and Federico Cazorzi (1).
(1) University of Udine, Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, Udine, Italy.
(2) University of Udine, Polytechnic Department of Engineering and Architecture, Udine, Italy.
(3) National Research Council of Italy, Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection (CNR-IRPI), Padova, Italy.

In recent years, the intensification of the effects of climate change has led to an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, making the territories increasingly vulnerable. In this context, watershed management and monitoring are playing an increasingly central role in mitigating hydro-geological risk, which can be reduced through effective and sustainable interventions. Nowadays, Remote Sensing data combined with analysis in GIS environments are fundamental tools to support these activities. However, these technologies are not yet widely widespread or user-friendly, as the available tools are diverse and require specific expertise, making it difficult to standardise workflows and obtain comparable results. To address these limitations, the University of Udine, in collaboration with CNR IRPI, has developed a plugin for the QGIS software designed to support hydrological, geomorphological and multi-temporal analysis of Digital Elevation Models (DTMs).
The developed plugin “HydroGeomorphology Tools for QGIS”, includes several functionalities such as: i) exploiting the Kinematic Local Excess Model (KLEM) distributed hydrological model, to simulate the hydrological response of catchments, with particular reference to rainfall-runoff transformation processes during flood events; ii) useing DTMs to automatically derive catchment boundaries, flow directions, upstream catchment areas, channel networks, and design hydrographs; iii) integrating existing tools for geomorphological and multi-temporal analysis, enabling the calculation of the Connectivity Index (IC) and DoD (DTM of Difference; i.e. the quantification of erosion and deposition volumes by comparing DTMs acquired at different times). A additional module is dedicated to supporting the survey and management of the Torrent Control Structures: through morphological analysis of the DTM and the longitudinal channel profiles, the plugin supports the identification of potential structures along the channel network.
The plugin is distributed under an open-source licence to encourage its widespread use and promote the standardisation of workflows in the hydro-geomorphological field. It is organised into five modules – Connectivity, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Multi-temporal DTMs Analysis and Torrent Control Structures DB Manager – each of which incorporates the functionalities described above.
This work highlights how the development of open-source tools, such as the plugin presented here, can help to support decision-making processes related to land management, making advanced methodologies accessible to those working in such contexts. In particularly vulnerable environments, as mountainous areas, such tools enable planning and management decisions to be made in a more informed manner, helping to optimise the use of economic resources towards effective and targeted interventions.

Acknowledgement: This work was funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU, in the framework of the consortium iNEST - Interconnected Nord-Est Innovation Ecosystem (PNRR, Missione 4, Componente 2, Investimento 1.5, D.D. 1058 23/06/2022, ECS00000043 – CUP G23C22001130006, Young Researchers’ Call UNIUD – Spoke 1 – GIS4HydroPlan Project) and the TORRENT project, which is co-funded by the European Union under the Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia programme. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, nor can the European Union be held responsible for them.