title: Landscape character assessment with GIS using map-based indicators and photographs in the relationship between landscape and roads.
abstract: Planning and monitoring of landscapes cannot be reduced to its outstanding features, but must take into account all its characteristics. In this context, the relationship of landscape with roads is of particular importance, because roads alter the territory's environmental resources but also constitute a resource through which the individual comes into contact with the landscape. The aim of this work is to design a methodology to evaluate both the character and the scenic quality of the landscape as viewed from motorways and to provide measures to assess whether the motorway conveys the character of the landscape of which it forms part. The main contribution of this research consists of assessing landscape character through a novel series of map-based indicators and combining the findings with a photo-based method of assessing visual landscape quality. The method has been applied to a case study around a motorway in Madrid Region (Spain). Landscape character values regarding coherence, complexity, naturalness, visual scale, disturbance, historicity, and ephemera are obtained using Geographic Information Systems. Additionally, the landscape quality results derived using photographs allow the incorporation of the user's perception at a local scale.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ingeniería y Gestión Forestal y Ambiental, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain; Centro de Investigación del Transporte (TRANSyT-UPM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Prof. Aranguren s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: belen.martin@upm.es.
authors.forename: Belén
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Martín
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ingeniería y Gestión Forestal y Ambiental, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain; Centro de Investigación del Transporte (TRANSyT-UPM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Prof. Aranguren s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ingeniería y Gestión Forestal y Ambiental, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain; Centro de Investigación del Transporte (TRANSyT-UPM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Prof. Aranguren s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Otero
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación del Transporte (TRANSyT-UPM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Prof. Aranguren s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain; Departamento de Ingeniería Civil: Transporte y Territorio, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Prof. Aranguren s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Rosa M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Arce
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D058996:Quality Improvement; D013030:Spain; D014195:Travel
keywords: Geographic information systems; Indicator; Landscape character evaluation; Landscape planning; Landscape visual quality