GIS design application for “Sierra Morena Honey” designation of origin

The quality label “Protected Designation of Origin” (PDO) protects and controls product quality. It is a normalized mode of typification and valuation. On the basis of the model proposed by Persano Oddo et al. [Persano Oddo, L., Piana, M.L., Barbattini, R., Ferrazzi, P., Longhitano, N., Piro, R., Ricciardelli D’Albore, G., Sabatini A.G., 2002. “La valorizzazione del miele attraverso le denominazioni di origine geografica”, proc. of Atti del Convegno AMA “Il ruolo della ricerca in apicoltura”, Bologna, 14-16 March, pp. 185–216] and the design of Bernardinelli et al. [Bernardinelli, I., Della Vedova, G., Milani, N., 2005. “Un approccio metodologico per la gestone del nomadismo in apicultura mediante i GIS: Esperienza nelle Valli del Natisone (Friuli Venecia Giulia)”. Ati dell’ Incontro-Siminario Mappatura delle aree nettarifere. Firenze], a Geographic Information System (GIS) was created for the management of honey produced in Sierra Morena (Andalusia, Southern Spain), and its development phases are presented in this work. Beekeeping is an activity closely related to this territory, and the GIS tool will be of great assistance in its management. A powerful, easy-to-update, and inexpensive open source code-based GIS web site was created to fulfill the needs of a work team characterizing the honeys entering the Protected Designation of Origin. The application is called SMHGIS (Sierra Morena Honey Geographic Information System). Extension and area delimitation aspects and orographic, orogenesic, climatic, and agronomic (nectar sources) features have been considered. An ordnance survey map of the area (1/10,000), data of the apiary census and honey production, and analysis and data for the characterization of honey subject to designation were used. The aim of this work is to describe the design and possibilities of GIS as a visualization tool for honey characterization and, secondly, as a management tool for the regulation of a Protected Designation of Origin.