PERCEPTION OF SQUARES IN GRAZ ANALYZED BY THE MEANS OF WEB-BASED PHOTO SHARING

Abstract

Space is always in a relationship with society, which perceives this space, which shapes it and which is also influenced by it in its activities. This interaction is expressed, among other things, in the meanings that individuals ascribe to a place, while conversely meanings are also derived from it. Urban settlements in particular usually have a large number of distinctive places that shape the appearance and meaning of the respective city (or part of it) for residents and visitors alike. One both historically and presently important component of a city is the square, which for a variety of reasons plays a special role in the appearance of a city. It can therefore also be assumed that city squares are not merely locations in space, but that they also have an aesthetic, spiritual and symbolic effect. The aim of this work is to find out to what extent selected squares of the city of Graz are perceived and what makes them distinctive and worthy of consideration. Pictures of a public photo community serve as a basis, which should provide information about what motivates the people who visit and photograph these places to photograph the place and share it with the whole world. The methodological implementation of the work is done in three chronologically ordered, GIS-based analysis steps: First, based on the frequencies of the usable photos available on the chosen platform, it is decided which squares in Graz are eligible for the study. This is followed by the analysis of the characterization of the selected photos with regard to the image content or the depicted square elements. In the third step, the results obtained so far are summarized to an overall assessment of the analyzed squares. As a result, the photographs of the squares yield very different findings. In some cases, the focus of consideration is on a particular object; in other cases, the motifs are selected in a spatially relatively balanced manner. Based on these results, it can be concluded that there are very different reasons why a place is frequently photographed and what the motivations are for sharing these pictures as well. Each of the places that are frequently chosen as photo subjects has a specific characteristic (footprint) that makes it a popular photo target. What all of the squares have in common, however, is that their location is very central, they are all located in the I. district (Innere Stadt), have a connection to public transport and are each only a few minutes’ walk from each other. None of the squares has a sight that is considered a „Top 10 Sight“by the city of Graz, but all squares are located in close proximity to most of the important sights.

Keywords

• urban squares
• tourists’ perception
• photo sharing
• gis
• graz