Relative visibility of Scotland’s coastal marine areas from the land (Viewshed analysis)

Such Viewshed analyses can be helpful to allow visualisation of the potential interaction between developments in the sea and, for example, tourism as well as the passive use values (such as coastal views) enjoyed by local residents. Such layers can contribute to Scottish marine planning by offering a methodology for mapping visual amenity of coastal waters and demonstrating its utility as a strategic planning tool. It is particularly relevant as for ecosystem based management coastal views are considered to be an ecosystem service that is appreciated and should be protected.

The analysis presented used

• elevation data from the EU-DEM (Digital Elevation Model) (from the European Environment Agency) (data have a 1 arc second (approximately 30 m) resolution) and
• UK Ordnance Survey Open Data buildings layer which provided polygons for every building in Scotland (1.26M locations).

The analysis illustrates a potentially useful means of generating information which can be used to elucidate some aspects of ecosystems service values for coastal environments.