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Aesthetic Assessment of Landscapes at the Regional Level (a Case Study of the Central Ecological Zone of the Baikal Natural Territory)

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Abstract

A method for the aesthetic assessment of coastal landscapes surrounded by mountains at the regional level is proposed. Assessing and mapping the aesthetic resources of the territory imply that scenic viewpoints and perceived landscape sceneries form an aesthetic system based on the geographical location. An aesthetic assessment has been made using georeferenced landscape photographs that were taken during field studies and from the Panoramio webservice database for 11 integrated indicators characterizing the perception conditions of sceneries and their structure. The landscape diversity of open and closed landscape scenes is analyzed on a differential basis. The landscape diversity of open and semiopen scenes is determined by the combination of the ruggedness of relief and contrast of vegetation cover, while the differentiation of closed forest landscape scenes with a near perspective is based on the characteristics of the elements and components of the enclosing natural landscape (composition and density of the forest stand; presence, abundance, and height of the shrub layer; and height and variety of the ground cover). Complex indicators were assessed using a three-dimensional model of the study area in Google Earth Pro based on thematic layers imported from the Quantum GIS project (satellite images, digital elevation model (DEM), landscape typological and forest inventory maps, a database of landscape photographs, etc.), taking into account the obscuring role of vegetation cover. Contours of the landscape typological map at the level of facies groups with a scale of 1 : 500 000 are used as mapping units. The score is assigned to the area from which the landscape is observed.

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Funding

This study was performed as part of State Task AAAA-A21-121012190056-4 and with support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, 20-45-380012 p_a.

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  1. Sochava Institute of Geography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 664033, Irkutsk, Russia

    A. Yu. Bibaeva

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  1. A. Yu. Bibaeva
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Correspondence to A. Yu. Bibaeva.

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Translation by D. Zabolotny

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Bibaeva, A.Y. Aesthetic Assessment of Landscapes at the Regional Level (a Case Study of the Central Ecological Zone of the Baikal Natural Territory). Geogr. Nat. Resour. 43, 182–188 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1875372822020019

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1875372822020019

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