Modelling landscape experience using “experions”

This research provides a method for modelling landscape experience that combines space, time, and landscape character. The visual landscape experience is particularly challenging to model because it involves perception that is specific to an individual, views that vary in extent, a period of time that the experience takes place, and a complex interaction of landform and land-cover, including cultural elements. Landscape experience is important to the quality of people's lives and is a substantial component of the tourism industry. To represent such experiences there is a need to develop techniques to model landscape experience. The method demonstrated is based on the landscape experience while walking a track and combines GIS viewshed analysis with a GIS generated landscape character classification. This method takes into account near and distant landscape views and weights the area that each landscape type is viewed by the length of time that it is viewed. The results produce a new metric that combines space and time and has the units of hectare-hours. This paper argues that there is a need for a unit that combines space and time so that landscape experience can be measured, compared and researched. It is proposed that this unit be called “experions” and this paper shows how such a unit can be measured using GIS. This metric measures landscape character experience rather than quality, but can be converted to quality when combined with landscape preference information.