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Track: Natural Resources and Conservation
Michael Meitner
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
Telephone: 520-621-9263
Fax: 520-621-3045
E-mail: meitner@u.arizona.edu
Terry Daniel
Vista Scenic Beauty Estimation Modeling: A GIS-Based Approach
Defining Issue: Predicting perceived scenic beauty of forest vistas. GIS Solution: A predictive model was developed using viewshed analysis and advanced spatial statistics to predict scenic beauty values. Methodology: National forest managers are charged with systematic consideration of "natural scenic beauty" in planning and decision making. Defining this "resource" and predicting the potential consequences of alternative management actions (and inactions) on scenic values have been the subject of over twenty years of research and development effort. Vista perspectives, where the viewer is typically elevated above the forest canopy and where the view extends over relatively large expanses of forest landscape, require sophisticated techniques that take into account the levels of precision, reliability, and validity necessary to support public land management decisions. This paper discusses the components required for a GIS-based, "three-dimensional" prediction model for vista scenic beauty including
(1) determination of significant viewpoints, (2) procedures for viewshed area specification and analysis, (3) defining the locus of vista scenic beauty (landscape or viewpoint), (4) the definition and computational methodology of relevant georelational landscape features, and (5) the statistical model used to generate predicted values. Software: The software used for this task was ArcInfo and its related modules.
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