Cognitive Evaluation of Landscape Elements Based on Point-Touch Heat Analysis: A Case Study of Beijing Forestry University

The evaluation of the public’s aesthetic perception preferences is an important part of landscape construction guidance. In the context of the extensive application of landscape evaluation methods for practice guidance, clarifying the public’s focus of attention can promote the bridging of human and landscape, which is of great significance in promoting the public to form a sense of spatial identity. Taking the winter campus landscape of Beijing Forestry University as an example, this research has quantifiable mathematical relationships introduced into the visual evaluation of landscape. The overall characteristics of landscape is obtained by calculating the area proportion of landscape elements based on the semantic segmentation of real photos and, in combination with point-touch research and heat analysis, the public’s cognitive tendency of landscape elements are explored. The research finds that: 1) People generally pay attention to natural and interactive landscape elements, and the focus of their attention is likely to be influenced by the actual proportions of landscape elements; 2) apart from the influence of element proportion, people typically pay more attention to landscape elements with clear morphological differences, or those with semantic meaning expressed directly through textual information; 3) respondents who have not paid a field visit to a certain landscape pay more attention to interactive and decorative elements of the landscape, while those who have paid a field visit pay more attention to technological and cultural elements. By developing a point-touch research method, the research reduces respondents’ bias or rejection to the questionnaire method, and provides a new perspective for the renewal of landscape design applicable to public participation.