Issues in using the Internet as a medium for landscape preference research

A survey has been undertaken using the Internet as a medium for gathering data on landscape scenic preference for a number of Scottish landscapes. This work has raised several issues on the use of the Internet for conducting such visually based surveys. The paper examines these issues in light of the results from the landscape preference questionnaire and discusses the future of the Internet for public input into the decision making process. The major issues addressed are those of the medium of display and the resolution of the display, the sample of respondents that can be obtained using the Internet, and the design of such surveys.