Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture

Publisher

Wichmann Verlag im VDE Verlag GmbH

Publication Date

2020

First Page

404

Last Page

412

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Abstract

In the last few decades, digital technology has dramatically altered how visual resource management and visual impact assessments (VIAs) are conducted. The recent emergence of low-cost immersive technology offers a suite of tools that could facilitate the VIA process. However, to date there is limited empirical evidence evaluating how these emerging technologies could influence VIA. The research presented here begins to fill this gap by comparing immersive virtual environments to existing 2D photo-based methods for assessing the visual impacts of development. 23 participants familiar with VIAs rated the visual qualities of different scenes presented as 360° images, Google Earth and 2D images. Results show a high similarity in perceived impacts between 2D images and Google Earth; 360° images were rated consistently lower. Overall, participants indicated that immersive visualization may have a role in VIAs, but it is critical these technologies be evaluated against on-site assessments before being adopted.

Share

COinS