Visual landscape exploration as revealed by eye movement tracking

The combination of eye tracking and factor analysis has allowed us to identify some characteristic patterns in natural landscape observation by different subjects. In this paper the patterns of visual exploration of a colour landscape photograph are compared. The most important patterns or styles of observation were as follows. 1. A general scanning strategy with a systematic, even and thorough inspection of the scene as opposed to strategies which focus on particular areas. 2. An exploration pattern with a marked interest in different parts of the scene. 3. Interest in the central pans of the scene and areas with contrasting elements as opposed to a strategy considering the fringes of the scene. The results seem to show some differences in exploration strategies between women and men. Women tended to adopt the systematic inspection strategy more often than men, and were more interested in different parts of the scene, but given the small sample available, these tendencies only can be considered as indications. We also found that the observation patterns detected could be related to landscape appraisal factors described in other experiments carried out by our research team. We believe that eye tracking studies of natural landscapes can be useful for planners and designers.