Prediction of near-view scenic beauty in artificial stands of hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa S. et Z.)

The Analytic Hierarchy Process was used to identify the evaluation criteria of near-view scenic beauty in artificial hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa S. et Z.) forests. A multiple-regression model and a neural-network model were developed to predict near-view scenic beauty with the physical features of forests in this paper. With the multiple-regression model as the benchmark, the neural-network model using genetic algorithms performed better in scenic beauty prediction with respect to the predictive capability and the predictive residuals. A part of this paper was presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Central Branch of Japanese Foresty Society (1998).