Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture

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Google Earth Pro as a Tool for Communities to Understand Wind Farm Visual Impacts

Communities often lack specific information about a proposed wind farm as it is being developed. They face an impossible hurdle to obtain professional quality photosimulations of the wind farm from all of the viewpoints people feel are important to investigate. This paper presents a case study concerning one community group’s solution to overcome the skills, tools, cost and time required to produce any number of accurate visualizations of a proposed wind farm. The advantages, disadvantages, and effectiveness of the approach is evaluated by 17 people involved in visual resource activities. They found it a highly effective and accessible way to visualize wind turbines from virtually any viewpoint. They also recognized that it lacked the photo-realism and precision of professional simulations.

Autor / Author: Palmer, James F.
Institution / Institution: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York/USA & Scenic Quality Consultants, Burlington, Vermont/USA
Seitenzahl / Pages: 9
Sprache / Language: Englisch
Veröffentlichung / Publication: JoDLA – Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture, 10-2025
Tagung / Conference: Digital Landscape Architecture 2025 – Collaboration
Veranstaltungsort, -datum / Venue, Date: Dessau Campus of Anhalt University, Germany 04-06-25 - 07-06-25
Schlüsselwörter (de):
Keywords (en): Google Earth Pro, KMZ, visual simulation, wind energy, public involvement
Paper review type: Full Paper Review
DOI: doi:10.14627/537754050
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