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Developing a Voxel-Based Sightline Sampling Algorithm for Calculating Panoramic Visible Green Index in High-density Urban Environment

Yipeng Feng （ College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, NO. 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai, China. ）

Feng Yang （ College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, NO. 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai, China. ）

https://doi.org/10.37155/2811-0730-0201-5

Abstract

Studies have shown that view to greenery and other natural landscape elements may have a beneficial restorative effect on urban residents, and the effect may be evaluated by the Visible Green Index (VGI) which refers to the proportion of green landscape represented by plants and waterscape in people's vision. This article proposes a method based on Sightline Sampling Algorithm (SSA) that can quickly calculate the VGI distribution in urban space. This method is operated on a voxel model, scans the distribution of plants around the viewpoint by constructing sampling sightline rays to quickly obtain the corresponding VGI information. Parametric analysis shows that for optimized combinations of voxel size and sampling size, the method can quickly calculate VGI at continuous locations with a fairly satisfactory accuracy. As a case study, the distributions of VGI in three campuses of a university in Shanghai, China is examined using the SSA method. The result shows that the method can evaluate the existing green view levels. Potential areas for improvement, i.e. high pedestrian density while poor green view percentages are identified, and the improved VGI distribution with renovation design scheme is predicted. The VGI method can be a potential tool to support architects and landscape designers in analyzing green visual quality and assessing the restorative benefits of urban landscape design.

Keywords

Visible Green Index; Sightline Sampling Algorithm; Urban landscape; Bresenham Algorithm; Viewshed Analysis

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References

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