Using GIS in Landscape Visual Quality Assessment

Abstract

Landscape Visual Quality (LVQ) 'assessment has become a core component of landscape architecture, landscape planning and spatial planning. Different approaches for assessing the scenic qualities of landscapes have been developed in the last few decades. Two contrasting paradigms, expert/design approach and community perception-based approach, have dominated methodology development. In the expertdesign approach the landscape visual quality is defined by biological and physical (or biophysical) values, while the perception-based approach emphasises the human view (subjective) of the landscape. This paper outlines a methodology combining expert and perception approaches to assess the LVQ.The application of information technology to landscape analysis dates back to the early work in computerbased mapping. Much of the early work on what became Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and threedimensional landscape modelling was carried out by landscape architects and landscape planners. In the past years, significant advances in computers and GIS have enabled analysis of vast amounts of spatial information, which is the foundation of the methodology described in this paper. The methodology is explained in detail through its application to assess the LVQ of the Mornington Peninsula Shire, Melbourne, in the State of Victoria, AUSTRALIA.There are six stages in the procedure: viewpoints selection; calculation of factor indices based on Visual Exposure Modelling; landscape preference rating; use of statistical methods (such as multiple regression model) to determine the key predictors of LVQ; application of the formula thus generated to assess the LVQ of viewpoints; and use of spatial interpolation to map LVQ across the study area.The results are discussed in the last section of this paper with reference to key methodological issues. Results show that the perceived LVQ increases with the area of water visible, the degree of wilderness and percentage of natural vegetation, and the presence of hills. On the other hand, it decreases with the presence of perceived negative human-made elements such as roads and buildings.

Method of retrospective evaluation of physiognomic landscape changes and its application in the West Polesie region (CE Poland)

“…Since the 1990s, GIS techniques have been more and more extensively used in the evaluation of landscape physiognomy (Lee et al 1999;Wu et al 2006;Ramirez et al 2011), along with 3D computer visualisations (Roth 2006;Griffon et al 2011).…”

Metodología de valoración de paisaje empleando ArcGIS: Aplicación a las Vías Pecuarias

“…En años pasados, se han realizado significantes avances utilizando los GIS en los ordenadores, lo que ha hecho posible el aná-lisis de gran cantidad de información espacial (14).…”

“…En los pasados quince años, los avances en ordenadores y Sistemas de Información Geográfica (GIS) ha posibilitado el incremento del uso de estas tecnologías en la evaluación del paisaje visual (14).…”

“…Utilizó GIS con la cobertura del terreno y el modelo digital del terreno del Acadia National Park, en USA, para cartografiar la calidad visual desde puntos de observación, con el comando viewshed, y empleó un análisis de regresión identificando ocho variables según las preferencias de los observadores (14). …”

Lessons from visualising the landscape and habitat implications of tree decline—and its remediation through tree planting—in Australia's grazing landscapes

“…Aesthetic preferences often include aspects of naturalness, wilderness, diversity or evident care (Arriaza & Cañas-Ortega, 2004;Nassauer, 1995;Ode, Fry, Tveit, Messager, & Miller, 2009;Tveit, Ode, & Fry, 2006;Wu, Bishop, Hossain, & Sposito, 2006). Importantly for our work on grazing landscapes, aesthetic preferences do not necessarily reflect ecosystem health (e.g.…”