Due to the continuous and fast evolution of herbicide resistance and the complexity of the Italian system, GIRE® has decided to develop a dynamic and flexible visualization system of herbicide resistance cases. The new interactive system is based on open source software tools and, being automatic, allows an easy update of the maps whenever new resistance cases are added to the database. The two research systems, “static” and “dynamic”, guide the user to visualize and create any kind of map he wishes based on several criteria: type of resistance, weed species, region involved and cropping system. Both systems also allow cases of multiple resistance to be highlighted.
The system is based on the ISTAT map of Italian municipalities. The GIRE® mission is not to supply the number of resistant populations, but to give indications of areas affected by herbicide resistance at national level. The maps therefore provide qualitative and not quantitative information, i.e. the area of a municipality is coloured when the presence of at least one resistant population has been confirmed.

Static Maps

The static system is easier and intuitive and is conceived to satisfy simple requests based on the cropping systems affected by herbicide resistance in Italy. Through a tree menu, the user is guided to choose the cropping system and then the weed species. In this way a series of links are visualized: to the page describing the main biological traits of that species, to the resistance maps of the different types of resistance involved and the corresponding municipality lists.

Dynamic Maps

The dynamic system allows the user to have greater autonomy by consenting the generation of maps based on the criteria of greatest interest. In this case the user window is formed by four drop-down menus that allow the query to be devised fixing one or more criteria: type of resistance, weed species, region and cropping system. Simultaneously to the generation of the map it is possible to visualize the list of municipalities involved.