PREDICTION OF SCENIC BEAUTY USING MAPPED DATA AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION-SYSTEMS

Public concern for the visual landscape has led to the widespread use of codified, replicable processes for assessing, documenting and predicting a landscape's scenic beauty. The work reported proceeds on the belief that estimates of the visual impact of landscape change should be based on its effect on locations, and not on specific circumscribed views. We argue that using the computational capabilities of a geographic information system (GIS), together with prediction equations based on assessment of video panoramas of locations affected by landscape change, more objective and cost-effective visual assessment and prediction procedures may be developed. The approach employed is described. The validity of the results is assessed in terms of our ability to match both public and expert-based landscape assessment. Finally, some implications for future research of this type are considered.