Dead Woman and Dead Man in italian place-names. An example of GIS technologies applied to toponomastic studies

It is well-known that metaphoric expressions occur frequently in place-names. Place-names such as Dente del Gigante, Monte Libro Aperto, Mano del Diavolo (The Giant’s Tooth, Open Book Mountain, The Devil’s Hand) point clearly to geomorphology, and nearly all place-names like Femmina Morta e Uomo Morto (Dead Woman and Dead Man) come from specific relief features. This research aims to set up and build a database of Italian toponymy comprising all figurative expressions related to relief shapes, and this paper focuses on Dead Woman and Dead Man, putting forward an example of an interactive distribution map that shows the photograph of the named object on the satellite 3D view of the area.