Treesearch

In response to urbanization pressures on the New England landscape, researchers at the University of Massachusetts have developed and tested two visual landscape assessment procedures as part of a comprehensive research project in landscape planning. The first procedure identifies those visually significant and unique areas within a town or region that warrant public intervention in decisions affecting their protection and preservation. The second procedure identifies the relative frequency of visual attributes within an area which enhance its liveability and hence its suitability and...

To help ensure that visual effects are considered at all stages of highway agency decision-making, the Federal Highway Administration contracted with Jones & Jones to develop and conduct a five-day training course to guide highway professionals in developing VRM processes for their own agencies. The training course emphasizes overall principles, the need for a comprehensive approach that deals with all the elements of visual management problems, and the ability to tailor the level of VRM effort to the needs of a specific project. The concept of the VRM objective links assessment to...

Over eight-hundred users of the Natchez Trace Parkway were interviewed concerning their preference of degree of grass maintenance and their attitudes toward high-ways. Those individuals who had a positive attitude toward highways were more likely to prefer those scenes which portrayed a greater degree of maintenance than those individuals who did not have a positive attitude toward high-ways. The degree of maintenance along highways can be related more directly to the user's attitude if such attitudes are known.

This paper is a description of a research effort directed to improving the visual image of mobile home parks in the landscape. The study is an application of existing methodologies for measuring scenic quality and visual landscape compatibility to an unsolved problem. The paper summarizes two major areas of investigation: regional location factors based on visual values, and site design techniques for visual improvements. The findings are most applicable to non-arid regions with forests and land use patterns similar to Pennsylvania.

Visual absorption capability (VAC) is a tool to assess a landscape's susceptibility to visual change caused by man's activities. This paper explores different descriptive approaches to VAC and addresses in depth the development of the VAC process used on the Klamath National Forest. Four biophysical factors were selected to assess VAC for the lands within the Klamath National Forest. These factors are slope, vegetative pattern and screening, site recoverability, and soil color contrast with the surrounding landscape. By combining this VAC analysis with Forest Service visual quality...

Development of oil and gas resource in the North Sea has led to the application of visual impact assessment techniques to onshore oil and gas developments in the United Kingdom. Formal visual impact assessment methods are needed to supplement landscape evaluations and site selection studies. Three major orientations of British visual impact assessments are: the delineation and mapping of the zone of visual influence, or viewshed; the preparation of accurate graphic representations of the proposed facility; and, the collaboration of engineering and design professionals in all phases of...

With passage of the Mining in the Parks Act (P.L. 94-429) in 1976, the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, was given the responsibility of preparing a report to Congress outlining the environmental consequences of mining on claims within Death Valley National Monument. In addition, the Secretary of the Interior is required to formulate a recommendation to Congress on the acquisition or continued mining of claims within the monument, and on any boundary adjustment that could be undertaken to exclude mining claims and thereby reduce acquisition costs. As scenic qualities are...

This paper presents an approach to generating criteria for selecting the analytical tools used to assess visual resources for various landscape management tasks. The approach begins by first establishing the overall parameters for the visual assessment task, and follows by defining the primary requirements of the various sets of analytical tools to be used. Finally, the paper reviews and critiques a number of existing techniques available for assessing visual (aesthetic) resources by applying the criteria developed.

This paper relates the evolution of an empirical model used to predict public response to scenic quality objectively. The text relates the methods used to develop the visual quality index model, explains the terms used in the equation and briefly illustrates how the model is applied and how it is tested. While the technical application of the model relies heavily on existing computer technology and remote sensing techniques for assembling and manipulating the data, the primary value of the work lies in what was learned about using photo response tests and surveys as measures of predicting...

Based on the components and program of VRVA (Visual Resources Values Assessment), a behavioral history of the visitor's perception of the American desert is examined. Emphasis is placed upon contrasts between traditional eastern "garden-park" viewpoints and contemporary desert scenery experiences. Special attention is given to the influence of John Wesley Powell's writings and the art of Georgia O'Keeffe. The specific region examined is Canyonlands.