Toward conservation of visual resources at the regional scale

Visual resources are a critical, but often overlooked type of cultural resource. Additionally, visual resources are often dealt with only at the site scale and not as part of a larger landscape or region. Building on a long history of photographic studies for landscape visual assessment, this work examines crowdsourced photography from social media sources to identify visual resources and areas of scenic interest at larger scales. A pilot study in Pennsylvania and subsequent exploration in the National Capital Region show how publicly shared photography can aid the identification and prioritization of conservation areas by garnering information from residents and visitors, alike. Analyses of these data also show trends for the types of visual resources and landscapes that are most valued. Subsequently, other forms of data, such as impact projections can be compared to the photographic data to identify where future conflicts may occur. Crowdsourced data is useful for identifying areas of visual and cultural resources. Natural or natural-appearing landscapes are valued more above other types. Data availability and compatibility are important for regional-scale conservation.