Beauty spot or landscape blot? Computer trained to judge scenery
by Ian Sample Science editor from on (#2WV4R)
Computer trained to determine what makes places beautiful could help design new towns and decide which areas should be protected, say researchers
Wordsworth found it in a host of daffodils; Nan Shepherd in the nooks of the Cairngorms. For Monet it popped up all over the place, from the windmills and canals of Amsterdam, to the sailing boats of Argenteuil.
What lends a scene beauty has long been left to the poets and painters to define, but that may be about to change. In a new study, researchers trained a computer to tell scenic views from blots on the landscape. One day it could help with decisions over what land to protect, and how better to design new towns and cities, the scientists claim.