Viewshed Analysis - Viewshed Analysis Uses

Viewshed Analysis Uses

Besides tower placement a viewshed analysis can be used for other applications. For example a viewshed analysis could estimate the impact of the addition of a large building. The viewshed analysis would show all the areas from which the building could be seen as well as any views that would be obscured from any particular location. Viewshed analyses are also used to locate fire observation stations in mountain areas (Lee and Stucky, 1998). This allows the stations to be placed so that the entire forest can be observed for possible fires.

A wonderful example of using a viewshed analysis on a line segment is from the Wyoming State Office, Bureau of Land Management in which the office used a viewshed analysis to determine the visibility from historical trails across Wyoming. Within the Rock Springs Field Office area there are five different viewsheds to choose from. The example here is viewshed number one. The viewshed indicates the land areas visible from the trails at four different levels from not visible to visible, based on the number of times the area could be seen from the trail. This is an indication of what the pioneers could see as they traveled along the trails of the western frontier (Rock Springs Field Office).