Application of airborne LiDA R data in viewshed analysis

Abstract

The environmental impact assessment and landscape analysis of any work or activity over the territory requires a study of the visual impact what can be done from the application of viewshed analysis. The accuracy of these results depends largely on the parameters for calculating them, accuracy and spatial resolution of initial elevation data and digital models derived. In this study viewshed analysis in 4 areas of the town of Gandia with different characteristics (urban, forest, beach, mixed) were analyzed from 4 types of geographic information: a) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and b) Digital Surface Model (DSM) derived from LiDAR data with density of 1 point/m2; c) DTM from a photogrammetric flight with a pixel size of 5×5 m; d) Overlay cadastral cartography with the previous DTM. For the validation of the results, 120 checking points were used to calculate the overall accuracy and kappa index. The results showed a high overall accuracy for the viewsheds calculated from the DSM derived from LiDAR data being the overall accuracy and index kappa 90% and 0.80, respectively. The conclusions drawn from this study indicated that the use of this source of information showed a good performance for the generation of viewshed analysis.

Keywords

• Modelo digital de superficie (MDS)
• Modelo digital del terreno (MDT)
• Cuenca visual
• Paisajismo
• LiDAR