Abstract
Urban surroundings and spaces are losing their identity due to the flooded visual pollution in the urban panorama of already densely populated cities in developing countries. Quantitative assessment of visual pollution and its spatial mapping; both are very recent and relatively un-explored branches of urban studies. The diversity of visual pollution objects (VPOs) and their traits, the subjectivity of observers, the scale of urban space and dependency on subjective variables has been key challenges for quantification during visual pollution assessment. The researcher has previously developed a paper-based score-card type visual pollution assessment (VPA) tool using Analytical Hierarchy Process (under publication) to address these issues. However, considering the challenges associated with the deployment of paper-based tool for VPA (inability to handle variety of data types i.e. text, numeric, geolocation, images etc.), the natural progression has been the development of a mobile-based solution which matches the fast-growing mobile penetration rate of urban centers and provides a turn-key solution to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in primary data collection. On the other hand, academic research on the spatial mapping of visual pollution has slightly progressed to explore its cartographic dimension. This research presents a spatial decision support system comprising of a combination of open source tools to collect, store and present visual pollution assessment data for any urban space of any scale. The system employs Open Data Kit (ODK) to build its mobilebased VPA tool which can be used to collect VPO attributes using any android device. The collected data is streamed to a web-based data management module of the system in real time which is built upon ODK Aggregate and PostgreSQL. Furthermore, the web-based visualization module of the system is built upon some other major open source tools including OpenGeo Suite and PHP. The visualization module presents the results of visual pollution index (VPI) in the form of a web-based dashboard containing real-time choropleth maps which can be filtered for any specific VPO.This research demonstrates the strengths of open geospatial tools to solve challenges of primary data collection on a diverse range of VPOs along with the systematic capturing of their spatial location and visual images. Furthermore, it proves the ability of open source web mapping tools to display visual pollution assessments in most appropriate cartographic representation.
Highlights
For the first time ever, over 50% of the world’s population lived in urban areas in 2008 and is projected to rise to 70% by 2050
As the visual pollution is a recently emerged urban problem, its quantification and statistical measure have yet to mature (Allahyari et al, 2017; Aydin & Nianci, 2008; Chmielewski et al, 2011). Researchers from both developed and developing countries are contributing to exploring a number of aspects of this urban phenomenon but all those endeavours have some limitations to investigate the subject in terms of subjectivity, complexity, researchers’ biases, scientific quantification of the level of visual pollution, scale of area and visual pollution objects (VPOs) coverage
This concern has been raised by Syzmon et al in a recent publication where they summarised that only three methods of cartographic visualisation have been adopted for visual pollution mapping so far: i) the point symbol style referring to VPO locations, ii) the visibility map, and iii) the iconographic symbols representing streetscape visual pollution (Chmielewski et al, 2018)
Summary
For the first time ever, over 50% of the world’s population lived in urban areas in 2008 and is projected to rise to 70% by 2050. The impact of exposure to visual pollution in urban settings is penetrating and vast including physical, mental and social Studies reveal that it may be a distraction for drivers on a highways (Hasan, 2015), traffic chaos, loss of sense of place and aesthetics (Ogunbodede & Sunmola, 2014), psychological disturbances, and low quality of urban landscape( Chmielewski, Chmielewski, Tompalski, & Wężyk, 2011). As the visual pollution is a recently emerged urban problem, its quantification and statistical measure have yet to mature (Allahyari et al, 2017; Aydin & Nianci, 2008; Chmielewski et al, 2011) Researchers from both developed and developing countries are contributing to exploring a number of aspects of this urban phenomenon but all those endeavours have some limitations to investigate the subject in terms of subjectivity, complexity, researchers’ biases, scientific quantification of the level of visual pollution, scale of area and VPOs coverage (Bankole, 2013; Nasar & Hong, 1999; V.A. Gokhale, Mayuri Raichur, n.d.). Especially quantitative assessment of visual pollution, it is generally associated with soft elements of governance like policies, laws, guidelines, etc. rather than physical solutions like the other branches of pollution
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
