DYNALANDVIS · Evaluating scenarios of future landscape change by comparing static vs. dynamic visualisations in immersive environments

Final Activity Report Summary - DYNALANDVIS (Evaluating scenarios of future landscape change by comparing static vs. dynamic visualisations in immersive environments)

Spatially relevant planning decisions are typically based on written reports and 2D plans. They are still mostly communicated to the public with such abstracted information of our three-dimensional environment. A number of strategic international declarations and conventions such as the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Aarhus convention and the European landscape convention demand for improved information as well as improved public participation in the planning process. The integration of advanced 3D visualisation technologies into the planning process is increasingly becoming recognised as an effective and informative means of communication. The current state of the art in terms of 3D landscape visualisation is to use predominantly still images, assuming a static observer. However, humans experience their environment in motion. Similarly our visual experience is a dynamic one. The presented research concentrates on the question whether there is a difference in evaluating static scenes compared with movement through a virtual landscape. For the assessment of static versus dynamic visualisations a first pre-test in form of a survey was conducted with a virtual model of the agricultural landscape at the urban fringe of Zürich, Switzerland. For the survey walkthroughs were presented in real-time along a public footpath. From the same path static images were shown. The results show that overall the preference ratings were slightly higher for the dynamic walkthrough visualisations than for static images. The dynamic visualisations helped also more to understand where one is in the landscape. In the case study site Alport Valley in the Peak District National Park (UK) static images, pre-recorded walkthroughs along an animation path and free navigation in a 3D stereo environment were explored and assessed through stakeholder involvement in an immersive environment facility which provides viewers with the freedom to roam in the virtual landscape using devices such as joysticks and crystal eyes glasses. Between the 1930s and 1982 the Alport Valley was planted mainly with non-native conifers. UK forest policies nowadays are promoting native woodland. The National Trust produced together with the Forestry Commission a management plan, in which all relevant stakeholders participated. The plan is to gradually replace the existing coniferous plantations during the next several decades by new native deciduous woodlands. A big challenge was the visualisation of large number of trees and still being able to move around in real time. The landscape is shown in several stages over time: '2005' before forest management activities began; '2020' after harvesting most of the existing woodlands; '2030' when new woodlands have just been established; '2090' the proposed ‚final state' with oak-birch woodland. For the comparison of the three different presentation modes - static images, animations and real time navigation - two workshops were conducted. The workshops included a structured survey with a short questionnaire followed by a semi-structured part with the possibility for the stakeholders to navigate through the virtual landscape model. In general, the real time navigation scored higher than the animations, while the animations scored slightly higher than the images. Stakeholders expressed that the navigation brought the landscape to live, because it gave them a sense of place and scale, as well a sense of ownership and control as they could explore the landscape freely. The visualisations were seen as providing a good representation of how the landscape might look in years to come.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union