Application of Augmented Reality to Evaluate Invisible Height for Landscape Preservation

Landscape is the visible cognition of human environment, including natural objects such as mountains, rivers, the sea, forests and artificial objects such as buildings, bridges, and other structures. Landscape can be recognized and evaluated differently, depending on the viewer. However, people who share the same or similar local culture or aesthetics have the common recognition and evaluation of the landscape. A landscape can give a strong impact and make a socially, aesthetically, environmentally, or religiously desired outcome. On the other hand, if a mismatched object is laid out in the faborable landscape, people may feel that the good landscape is being destroyed. Recently, many good landscapes from viewpoint fields have been destroyed by constructing high rise buildings on the background area of the aesthetically pleasing structure. Figure 1 shows examples which singular landscapes of a Japanese historical Shinto shrine and a Buddhist temple are impaired by a modern tall glassy building and a tall broadcasting tower behind, respectively.