In recent years EU policy towards the ‘landscape’ has become better defined, whereas at the same time the notion of ‘landscape’ itself remains elusive. The need for indicators to evaluate and monitor the effects of landscape policies and plans is urgent. What is more, landscape is one of the components considered in environmental reporting, but unlike air, soil, or water, it is difficult to measure using quantitative methods. With studies on landscape indicators being as rare as they are, this volume is an attempt to fill the gap, dealing as it does with the definition and use of specific indicators for landscape assessment and monitoring. To tackle the diverse dimensions of the landscape (whose complexity is well known), the subject is approached by a multidisciplinary team of experts in landscape ecology, landscape history, landscape perception, regional planning, strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment procedures, and multi-criteria assessment methods. Individual chapters include comparative assessments of studies conducted thus far in the EU, as well as detailed analyses of ecological, historical, perceptive, land-use, and economic ways of looking at landscape. As well as providing a rich source of references for researchers studying the landscape from a variety of perspectives, the book will be required reading for European officials involved at any level in planning or assessing the landscape or environment.

Strategies for Landscape Representation discusses a variety of digital and analogue production techniques for the representation of landscape at multiple scales. Careful consideration is required to represent time, and to ensure accuracy of representation and evaluation in the landscape. Written as a guide for making appropriate selection of a wide variety of visualisation tools for students and built environment professionals with an interest in landscape, the book charts emerging technologies and historical contexts whilst also being relevant to landscape legislation such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Landscape Assessment. This book is an innovation-driven text that encourages readers to make connections between software, technology and analogue modes. The management, choice and combination of such modes can arguably narrow the unknown of landscape character, address the issues of representing time and change in landscape and engage and represent communities’ perceptions and experience of landscape. Showcasing international examples from landscape architecture, planning, urban design and architecture, artists, visualisers, geographers, scientists and model makers, the vitality of making and intrinsic value of representational work in these processes and sites is evidenced. An accompanying companion website provides access to original source files and tutorials totalling over a hundred hours in mapping and GIS, diagrams and notation, photomontage, 3D modelling and 3D printing.

This book is an exciting reappraisal of the role and practice of biodiversity monitoring, showing how new technologies and software applications are rapidly maturing and can both complement and maintain continuity with the best practice in traditional field skills. Environmental monitoring is a key component in a large number of national programmes and constitutes an important aspect of understanding environmental change and supporting policy development. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Monitoring Biodiversity begins by discussing monitoring as an established field and examines the various budgetary and technological challenges. It examines different methodologies, the variation between countries, and the design features relevant to understanding monitoring systems created for new policy goals or different funding situations. The huge variety of methods revealed across 18 chapters, which vary from statistical designs to remote sensing, interviews, surveys, and new ways of stacking and combining data and thematic information for visualization and modelling, underlines just how mature and multifaceted the modern practice of monitoring can be. It concludes with several problem-based chapters that discuss the design and implementation of environmental monitoring in specific scenarios such as urban and aquatic areas. All chapters include key messages, study questions, and further reading. With a focus on Europe but with international relevance, Monitoring Biodiversity will be an essential resource for students at all levels of environmental monitoring, assessment, and management.

This is the final report of the project "Visitor Monitoring Methods in the Nordic and Baltic Countries". The goal of the project was to develop visitor monitoring methodologies for Nordic and Baltic land management agencies, the work of which is related to visitor management in protected and recreational areas. The report provides an overview of the visitor monitoring methods and guidelines currently available, including state-of-the-art reports and case studies from the Nordic and Baltic countries. The report concludes that there are certain common variables related to monitoring outdoor recreation that are important to all the Nordic and Baltic countries and that could be standardized. Therefore, the project group continues its work in order to produce recommendations for a common visitor monitoring methodology in protected and recreational areas in the Nordic and Baltic Countries. These recommendations will be published in the form of a Nordic-Baltic manual on visitor monitoring practices.

"Environmental Monitoring" is a book designed by InTech - Open Access Publisher in collaboration with scientists and researchers from all over the world. The book is designed to present recent research advances and developments in the field of environmental monitoring to a global audience of scientists, researchers, environmental educators, administrators, managers, technicians, students, environmental enthusiasts and the general public. The book consists of a series of sections and chapters addressing topics like the monitoring of heavy metal contaminants in varied environments, biolgical monitoring/ecotoxicological studies; and the use of wireless sensor networks/Geosensor webs in environmental monitoring.