ИСТИНА

The “Belogradchik Rocks” geopark is one of the most famous geological monument in Bulgaria and is currently nominated in the UNESCO geopark network. The main attraction of the aspiring geopark is picturesque rock remnants of red sandstones of the Lower Triassic. More than 70 geosites of scientific, aesthetic and educational values are identified on the territory along with numerous cultural and historical objects. The tourist infrastructure of the geopark includes five primary and secondary ecological routes. An eastern route (“Planiniza”) and western one (“Vedernik’) pass two landscapes – one comprised of red sandstones (rocks) and another formed by limestone deposition (cuestas). The goal of our study was evaluation of aesthetic quality of these routes. We used two methods for assessing of aesthetic characteristics of the landscapes: traditional visual evaluation and remote sensing by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In the course of field studies we evaluated the aesthetic characteristics of each route based on the approach proposed by Lithuanian geographers K.I. Eringis and A.R. Budrunas (1978). This system includes 28 parameters of the aesthetic quality of landscapes. The advantage of the method is that it includes a wide range of elementary indicators in order to minimize subjectivity of evaluation. However, such field surveys are labor intensive and spatially limited by routes. Applying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) makes it possible to measure most aesthetic characteristics of landscapes along the routes and beyond them. Aerial photographic survey was done by DJI Phantom. We produced 4 orthophotomaps, digital elevation model (DEM) and image-derived indices. The spatial resolution of these cartographical products is about 1m. Remote sensing allows measuring 21 of 28 aesthetic characteristics of landscapes such as depth and diversity of perspective view, virginity of landscape, number of mountain peaks and slopes; shape of skyline; manmade features and their correspondence to natural landscapes. The remote sensing results are found in good compliance with field evaluation of the routes in terms of their aesthetic quality. The results show high potential of this approach to use for development of touristic infrastructure in geoparks.