The effectiveness of richness, diversity and dominance textural indices when applied on digital ground photographs using a GIS for landscape visual analysis purposes

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of three main textural indices for the automatic evaluation and classification of landscape scenic quality using digital ground photographs. Based on the textural indices that are commonly used in landscape ecology, the richness, diversity and dominance indices were selected to be examined, and the results from the application of these indices to a sample of ground photographs are described in this paper. The application of the textural indices to the sample of photographs takes place in two different ways, using a geographic information system (GIS) that aims to describe the general and partial heterogeneity of the landscape appearing in each photograph. Furthermore, we investigate the effectiveness of the indices selected as to the classification of the landscape's scenic quality, with the results being compared to other results derived from a research programme of the National Technical University of Athens. Comments and suggestions are presented for further investigation. The main conclusion of the investigation is that the texture indices are sensitized in the landscape's scenic quality, a fact that is positive and encourages the pursuit of further research.