Optimising a landscape visual quality protocol. A Method for reducing respondent fatigue and obtaining site-specific indicators

Evaluation of landscape visual quality is crucial for policymaking and planning but is still challenging. A wide range of visual assessment protocols is available, but there is still no consensus on appropriate indicators or approaches. Also, evaluation protocols can encompass many indicators, being exhaustive and complex and making the evaluation lengthy. Furthermore, protocols tend to be catered to a particular type of landscape or site-specific, and it can be tricky to ensure the protocol developed is adequate for the landscape under study. This paper proposes a methodology to optimise the selection of indicators for landscape visual assessments. There are two main goals: i) reduce the evaluation time to avoid respondent fatigue, and ii) make the protocol site-specific, choosing indicators that perform better and avoiding redundant indicators. • The presented method optimises the selection of indicators in expert visual assessments; • Indicators are rated in situ on a 5-point scale and go through a performance and redundancy test; • It helps to adapt complex evaluation protocols to the study landscape and to choose robust indicators in a supported and scientific way.