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Coastal area constitutes a vulnerable environment and requires special attention to preserve ecosystems and human activities therein. To this aim, many studies have been devoted both in past and recent years to analyzing the main factors affecting coastal vulnerability and susceptibility. Among the most used approaches, the Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) accounts for all relevant variables that characterize the coastal environment dealing with: (i) forcing actions (waves, tidal range, sea-level rise, etc.), (ii) morphological characteristics (geomorphology, foreshore slope, dune features, etc.), (iii) socio-economic, ecological and cultural aspects (tourism activities, natural habitats, etc.). Each variable is evaluated at each portion of the investigated coast, and associated with a vulnerability level which usually ranges from 1 (very low vulnerability), to 5 (very high vulnerability). Following a susceptibility/vulnerability analysis of a coastal stretch, specific strategies must be chosen and implemented to favor coastal resilience and adaptation, spanning from hard solutions (e.g., groins, breakwaters, etc.) to soft solutions (e.g., beach and dune nourishment projects), to the relocation option and the establishment of accommodation strategies (e.g., emergency preparedness).

Remote video imagery is widely used for shoreline detection, which plays a fundamental role in geomorphological studies and in risk assessment, but, up to now, few measurements of accuracy have been undertaken. In this paper, the comparison of video-based and GPS-derived shoreline measurements was performed on a sandy micro-tidal beach located in Italy (central Tyrrhenian Sea). The GPS survey was performed using a single frequency, code, and carrier phase receiver as a rover. Raw measurements have been post-processed by using a carrier-based positioning algorithm. The comparison between video camera and DGPS coastline has been carried out on the whole beach, measuring the error as the deviation from the DGPS line computed along the normal to the DGPS itself. The deviations between the two dataset were examined in order to establish possible spatial dependence on video camera point of view and on beach slope in the intertidal zone. The results revealed that, generally, the error increased with the distance from the acquisition system and with the wash up length (inversely proportional to the beach slope).