a fuzzy modelling approach

8/6/2019 A Fuzzy Modelling Approach

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A fuzzy modeling approach to

wild land mapping in Scotland

Steffen Fritz, Linda See

and Steve Carver


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Paper outline

Aims of this study

Methods of wilderness mapping

The Scottish situation - Remoteness and Apparent

Naturalness

The internet questionnaire

Visibility and distance analysis

Incorporating Naismiths Rule with Dijkstras shortest

path algorithm to map remoteness

The fuzzy model for apparent naturalness

Combining remoteness and apparent naturalness

Further research

Conclusions


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Aims and Objectives

Develop a mapping tool to map perceived wild land areas on a local

level

Model can be applied to Scotland and to other areas in Europe

Model takes into account measurable factors such as remoteness

and apparent naturalness

Information is acquired with the help of an internet questionnaire

each individual produces a different wild land map

remoteness and apparent naturalness criteria can be combined and

weighted according to its importance


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The way you define wilderness will influence the way you

are going to map it.

Ecological vs perceptual definition

Rob Lesslie: undeveloped land which is relatively remoteand undisturbed by, the process and influence of settled

people

The whole of Australia was mapped using 4 criteria:

naturalness, apparent naturalness, remoteness from accessand remoteness from settlement


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Definition by Nash There is no specific material thingthat is wilderness. The term designates a quality that

produces a certain mood or feeling in a given individual

and, as a consequence, may be assigned by the person to a

specific place

Huxley (1974) "wilderness is where one feels oneself to be in awild place, according to the sensibility of one's particular experience

and knowledge on a global and local scale." Kliskey and Kearsley (1993) mapped multiple perceptions

on wilderness based on that definition.


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The Scottish situation

Landscape has been dramatically altered due to its

long settlement and land use history

since pure wilderness does not exist in Scotland

it is better referred to as wild land

people still value the land according to factors

such as remoteness and the absence of human

artefacts and as such perceive it as wild.


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The internet questionnaire

Questions

1. Profile

2. General questions about hiking 3. Mapping Remoteness - the long walk in

4. Impact of certain man man features on personal

wild land perception such as hill roads, roads,

builtup areas, isolated buildings, coniferousplantations, pylons, shielings (old crofts), grazing

(sheep, cattle), arable land, ski lifts


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Mapping Remoteness


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Mapping Remoteness

Using Naismith Rule (1892) to map pedestrian

travel times

Modified by Langmuir (1984)

5 km/h plus 0.5 hour per 300 m of ascent,

minus 10 minutes per 300 m descent for slopes

between 5 and 12,

plus 10 minutes per 300 m descent for slopesgreater than 12.


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Mapping Remoteness


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Non purist

low wild land

< 20 minutes

medium wild land

20 - 40 minutes

high wild land

40 - 80 minutes


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Purist

low wild land

< 60 minutes

medium wild land

360 minutes

high wild land

720 minutes


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Mapping Apparent Naturalness


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Mapping Apparent Naturalness


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The fuzzy Model


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Done on a 50m resolution using EDX data

for each feature (roads, hillroads, buildings,

built-up, coniferous plantations)

Euclidean distance was calculated for

visible and non visible features

Visibility and Distance Analysis


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Man Made Features

Roads

Hill Roads

Pylons

Coniferous Plantations

Grazing

Arable Land

built-up area

isolated building

ski-lift hydroelectric power plant

shieling

quarry


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Fuzzy Impact Map of Buildings


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Fuzzy Impact Map with OR operator


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Composite wild land map of purist


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Current Problems and Further Research

Visibility Analysis is very computational

intensive

OR operator for factor maps is problematic

length of feature is not taken into account

Validation - further research will focus on

interactive maps and some kind of ground truthing

Photographs as additional aid

Grouping of respondents - purist groups -

composite maps


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Conclusions

Wild land is not easy to map and it can only be done up to a certain

degree using measurable criteria

Internet questionnaire is very useful to capture information on overall

individuals perception of wild land

Naismith surfaces can be used to measure perceived remoteness

remoteness on a local level

Apparent Naturalness can be measured within a fuzzy modeling

framework

Applications:

Quantitative data on wild land is very useful in decision making e.g.

public inquiry, if then modeling

Relative wild areas can be objectively compared

a fuzzy modelling approach

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