Assessing temporal changes in the reservation of the natural aesthetic resource using pictorial content analysis and a grid-based scoring system – the example of Tasmania, Australia

Abstract

One of the main aims of National Park systems is to preserve in perpetuity areas of outstanding natural aesthetic significance. There is both historical and contemporary interest in understanding the degree to which these systems capture the natural aesthetic resource. In Tasmania, pictorial content analysis was used to quantify the relative contributions of different natural landscape elements to the resource, using pictorial content analysis in three time periods. The relative weights of the elements differed little between the time periods. Scores for the resource within 10 km × 10 km grid squares were derived, based largely on these weights, and changes in reservation of the resource were quantified for 1937, 1970 and 1992. There was a marked increase in the absolute representation of the natural aesthetic resource through time, although mean scores for grid squares declined in toto and for all scenic elements except coasts. The techniques used could be valuable for both assessing and planning the expansion of reserve systems.