Use of Geospatial Techniques for Aesthetic Resource Inventories

Land use planning along shorelines is often required to consider aesthetic values as part of decision-making processes, which has resulted in various efforts to identify and quantify visual attributes of landscapes (Ayad, 2005). These have included various component-based field survey methods (e.g. Sommerville et al., 2003), surveys of visual preference based on photography and field visits (e.g. Morgan and Williams, 1999), as well as use of remotely sensed data and GIS modeling (e.g. Ayad, 2005). In Washington State, as in many other states, shoreline management programs require aesthetic resources to be protected. However, data pertaining to shoreline aesthetics are usually not available and standardized procedures for developing this data generally do not exist. As a result, shoreline aesthetic qualities are often not adequately addressed in many comprehensive shoreline management plans and inappropriate development continues to threaten these resources.

This objective will develop a methodology for assessing aesthetic resources in marine shore environments. First, RGIS-PN will research best practices in conducting scenic preference surveys (Daniel and Boster, 1976; Shuttlesworth,1980; Zube, Pitt, & Anderson, 1975). The results of this literature review will be used to develop an internet-based scenic preference survey instrument (Wherrett, 2000). RGIS-PN will investigate software and techniques that facilitate combining digital images (e.g. Ayad, 2005), panoramas (e.g. Morgan and Williams, 1999), and internet mapping software in an application that will be used to gather spatially referenced data concerning shoreline aesthetic resources from stakeholders. This will be accomplished by linking representative photos and panoramas to an interactive map, modeled partially after the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Great Lakes Circle Tour Project using OpenLayers (Hart, 2007), which will allow stakeholders to spatially locate and evaluate scenic amenities.

This research will result in: 1) an internet application for collecting marine shoreline scenic preference data from stakeholders; and 2) a methodology to develop the results into a spatial dataset that can be used in conjunction with existing biological and physical data in shoreline ecological characterizations (e.g. Ayad, 2005). The methodology will be implemented as a pilot in three Washington State parks, which will be located in areas of varying shoreline morphologies and cultural settings on Puget Sound. The results of these pilot projects will be GIS datasets representing aesthetic resources for each of the state parks in the pilot study. It is expected that the methodology developed will have broad application for environmental planners and resource managers, as the software and techniques developed in this research will be useful for inventorying aesthetic resources in any marine or lake shoreline environment.