Abstract
Although landscape is often seen as a vast concept describing the environment, it remains subjective and is open to a multitude of interpretations. It comprises, for example, aspects such as culture, art, time, patterns, processes, history, identity, experiences etc. Besides, landscape is also subject to perception, which is clearly reflected by the ELC’s definition of landscape: “... an area as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors”. Considering this point of view, it is worth analyzing how people visually perceive landscapes and investigating whether or not different groups of observers see the same landscape. Of particular interest is the dichotomy between landscape experts who guide decisions concerning landscape management, and lay people who live in that landscape and experience the consequences. The commonly diverging ideas with respect to landscape management could be explained by
a different observation of the landscape by both groups. A method to objectively measure visual observation patterns is provided by eye-tracking, a system which allows recording the point-of-regard while observing images. In this study, landscape experts and lay people participated in an eye-tracking experiment in which 74 landscape photographs were observed. Their fixation patterns were visualised in focus maps, indicating which objects in the image drew the attention. Subsequently, these maps were compared to computationally generated saliency maps, predicting the features in the photograph which will theoretically attract the attention due to their colour, orientation, intensity etc. Furthermore, we analysed how the fixation positions from both groups are distributed over time. The preliminary results indicate that experts visually explore the landscape images more completely, extending their visual span. Laymen, however, focus more and longer on specific features in the photograph, restricting their field of view. This practical knowledge could be helpful in participatory landscape management
a different observation of the landscape by both groups. A method to objectively measure visual observation patterns is provided by eye-tracking, a system which allows recording the point-of-regard while observing images. In this study, landscape experts and lay people participated in an eye-tracking experiment in which 74 landscape photographs were observed. Their fixation patterns were visualised in focus maps, indicating which objects in the image drew the attention. Subsequently, these maps were compared to computationally generated saliency maps, predicting the features in the photograph which will theoretically attract the attention due to their colour, orientation, intensity etc. Furthermore, we analysed how the fixation positions from both groups are distributed over time. The preliminary results indicate that experts visually explore the landscape images more completely, extending their visual span. Laymen, however, focus more and longer on specific features in the photograph, restricting their field of view. This practical knowledge could be helpful in participatory landscape management
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Titel | PECSRL 2014 : 26th session of the Permanent European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape |
| Antal sider | 1 |
| Forlag | Göteborgs Universitet |
| Publikationsdato | 2014 |
| Sider | 219 |
| Status | Udgivet - 2014 |
| Udgivet eksternt | Ja |