Mapping the extent of land cover colour harmony based on satellite Earth observation data

The concept of colour harmony, being rarely used in geography, landscape and environmental studies, has been significantly developed in psychology, art and computer science within the different approaches: colour wheel geometry and, more recently, numerical models applied to colour combinations. Using the main numerical principles of colour harmony, borrowed from the psychological literature, this study aims to investigate the ways of mapping the extent of the colour harmony of land cover, based on satellite Earth observations and explain the spatial distribution of colour harmony scores. The naturalness of environment, as well as heat and moisture balance, are confirmed to be the main drivers of the colour harmony of land cover. Crowdsourced photographs, collected from Mapillary service, were used to link satellite and ground-based estimations of the colour harmony of land cover as “proof of concept”. They have a limited applicability for ground-based assessment of scenic colour harmony. Therefore, remote sensing data provide a significant support for nature conservation and sustainable management, being used for mapping of the colour harmony of land cover as an indicator of the visual quality of the perceived environment.