Introduction: Sciamlab at the SGI-SIMP 2026 Congress

Padua, September 17, 2026 — During the poster session of the Joint SGI–SIMP Congress "Ter(r)ra: Resources, Risks, Respect," a project titled *The Tiber and Aniene Integrated Information System (SIITA): a tool for sustainable river management in the Metropolitan Area of ​​Rome Capital* was presented. This initiative is the result of a collaboration involving over thirty authors from the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Sapienza University of Rome, Agenda Tevere, and SciamLab.

For us, this is an opportunity to explain what our work entails in practical terms: taking public data—scattered across various agencies, departments, formats, and technological generations—and transforming it into a queryable, documented, and reusable infrastructure for those responsible for managing the territory.

The problem: shared governance, fragmented information base.

The River Contract is a voluntary instrument for strategic and negotiated planning—recognized by the Environmental Code—that brings public bodies, local stakeholders, and civil society to the same table. The signatories define a shared Action Plan and commit to its implementation, influencing the updating of district-level planning, specifically the Flood Risk Management Plan and the Water Management Plan.

The critical issue with this model is almost always the same: governance is collaborative, but the information base is not. Each party brings its own data—in varying formats and with misaligned levels of granularity and update schedules—which are often neither published nor documented. Without common ground, "shared knowledge" remains merely an intention written in the protocol.

The context: two catchment areas, a single coordination body.

In 2022, ten River Contracts were signed in the Lazio region, including the Tiber River Contract (TRC)—covering the stretch downstream of the Castel Giubileo dam to the river mouth—and the Aniene River Contract (ARC), which encompasses the entire basin from its sources in the Simbruini Mountains to its confluence with the Tiber.

The Metropolitan City of Rome Capital joined the TRC in 2022 and the ARC in 2024, assuming the role of coordinator and taking charge of the administrative management of the entire process in both instances. A Technical-Scientific Secretariat was established in 2025 to assist the authority with management, planning, and monitoring activities by providing technical support and scientific coordination.

Against this backdrop, the Metropolitan City is advancing an initiative that cuts across both contracts: the creation of a shared data platform known as the Tiber-Aniene Integrated Information System (SIITA).

What we have built

The architecture relies entirely on open-source software—a choice that is methodological as much as it is technological: there is no vendor dependency, no lock-in to proprietary formats, and the organization retains the ability to further develop the system with other partners.

- A Data Management System based on an open-source data catalog that collects and publishes datasets provided by the signatories in open formats—including land use, concessions within river-adjacent areas, the chemical and ecological status of water bodies, hydrogeological hazard zones, and more.
- A WebGIS platform based on TerriaJS, making the geospatial data accessible and navigable, including on mobile devices.

The catalog is constantly evolving and is designed as a "common good": every signatory can contribute to building collective knowledge regarding the Tiber and Aniene river systems.

Analyzing, transforming, articulating: the work that goes unseen.

The platform is the visible part. The true value lies beneath the surface, and that is where our work is focused.

Analyzing. Assessment comes before any technology: understanding what data actually exists within an organization, where it is stored, who produces it and how often, which data is reliable and which is not, and identifying overlaps or instances where the same phenomenon is covered using incompatible definitions. It is a process of listening to the various departments—rather than simply querying databases—and it determines the success of everything that follows.

Transforming. This means bringing heterogeneous data—shapefiles, spreadsheets, management system exports, and tables created for internal use rather than sharing—into a coherent model. It involves normalization, quality checks, entity reconciliation, metadata creation based on open standards, and the definition of usage licenses. This is the stage where data ceases to be mere files and becomes reliable information.

Structuring. Published data that cannot be understood serves no one. Structuring means designing access: navigable catalogs, APIs for developers, map-based visualizations for decision-makers, and documentation for those who need to understand what they are looking at. Above all, it means designing sustainable data submission processes for the data producers; a system that demands extraordinary effort will die along with the project that funded it.

For the Tevere and Aniene rivers, this work holds additional value, as the data serves a purpose beyond mere information: it provides the foundation for dozens of different stakeholders to negotiate territorial decisions based on the same set of facts.

Seven years, three steps

The system did not originate from an isolated intervention but rather from a process of progressive development.

2019 — DUT (Unified Tiber Database). The non-profit association Agenda Tevere conceived the prototype for the information system.

2023 — SIIT (Integrated Tiber Information System). The Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Sapienza University, and Agenda Tevere collaborated on the implementation of SIIT, developed by SciamLab.

2025–26 — SIITA. The system expanded to include the Aniene river basin. This initiative was incorporated into the Action Plan of the 2026–29 River Contract, with funding provided by the Metropolitan City under the Metropolitan Strategic Plan.

Perché la base conoscitiva conta: il percorso sulla balneabilità del Tevere

The body of information gathered on the two river basins now fits into a broader context. An inter-institutional process initiated by Roma Capitale regarding the swimmability of the Tiber is currently underway; its stated goal is to revitalize the river ecosystem and enhance the riverbanks, rather than simply making specific stretches suitable for swimming. This inter-institutional roundtable brings together Roma Capitale, the Lazio Region, the national government (via the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security), the Metropolitan City, and the academic and research communities. In August 2026, the municipal administration tasked the Environment and Public Works departments with launching the necessary administrative procedures—based on a plan prepared by municipal offices in collaboration with Acea Ato 2—focusing on the urban stretch between Ponte Milvio and Ponte dell'Industria, with a target date of summer 2031.

Regardless of the timelines and outcomes—which are currently the subject of technical and political discussion—what is significant for our work is the methodological approach adopted for this process. Under the scientific coordination of Professor Agostina Chiavola, a lecturer in Environmental Sanitary Engineering at Sapienza University, four working groups were established. The first, coordinated by Roma Capitale and the Metropolitan City, gathers data on actions already implemented and on projects initiated or funded for the Tiber and Aniene rivers. A second group, led by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Italian National Institute of Health) and ARPA Lazio, identifies and monitors health-relevant contaminants. The remaining two groups, coordinated by the Central Apennine District Basin Authority and the Metropolitan City, focus on the rivers' hydrological characteristics and on surveying discharges—both authorized and unauthorized—along the two waterways.

The structure conveys a clear message: one must be informed before taking action. It is significant that the main technical challenge concerns the stretch downstream of the confluence with the Aniene—precisely the area jointly covered by the two River Contracts.

A long-term environmental goal relies on the ability to measure, compare, and publicly report progress year after year. Without open, verifiable data maintained over time, there is no way to demonstrate that we are moving in the right direction—or to correct course when we are not. That is why we believe that developing information infrastructure is not merely an ancillary task, but the foundational step of any serious environmental policy.

We extend our thanks to the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Sapienza University of Rome, and Agenda Tevere for their ongoing collaboration.

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