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In today’s society, stress is recognized as a major contributor to illness. It can be reduced through exercise, which lowers stress hormones, and exposure to daylight, which regulates hormones such as cortisol and melatonin. Furthermore, the design and perception of the environment can indicate danger or safety, influencing stress levels and mental health. This study examines the Tehran Oil Refinery’s impact on local residents’ perceptions of landscape values and mental health. Oil refineries, which use compounds derived from natural gas or crude oil, pose both short- and long-term environmental and health risks. Using a Geographic Information System for Public Participation (PPGIS), the study investigates how the industrial landscape surrounding the Tehran Oil Refinery influences residents’ emotional responses and stress levels. The study collects sociodemographic data, self-perceived health data, and landscape valuations before and after photography interventions. The findings indicate a complex relationship between the refinery’s presence and perceptions of landscape values. Manipulated photographs used in the study show how visual elements can influence emotional responses, highlighting a direct link between stress and environmental perception. This case study adds to larger discussions about the effects of industrialization on public mental health and the environment, emphasizing the importance of incorporating public perception into urban planning in order to achieve sustainable development.

VGI (Volunteered Geographic Information) refers to spatial data collected, created, and shared voluntarily by users. Georeferenced tracks are one of the most common components of VGI, and, as such, are not free from errors. The cleaning of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) tracks is usually based on the detection and removal of outliers using their geometric characteristics. However, according to our experience, user profile differentiation is still a novelty, and studies delving into the relationship between contributor efficiency, activity, and quality of the VGI produced are lacking. The aim of this study is to design a procedure to filter GNSS traces according to their quality, the type of activity pursued, and the contributor efficiency with VGI. Source data are obtained Wikiloc. The methodology includes tracks classification according mobility types, box plot analysis to identify outliers, bivariate user segmentation according to level of activity and efficiency, and the study of its spatial behavior using kernel-density maps. The results reveal that out of 44,326 tracks, 8096 (18.26%) are considered erroneous, mainly (73.02%) due to contributors’ poor practices and the remaining being due to bad GNSS reception. The results also show a positive correlation between data quality and the author’s efficiency collecting VGI.

Petrochemical clusters are forms of industrialization that use compounds and polymers derived directly or indirectly from gas or crude oil for chemical applications. They pose a variety of short- and long-term risks to the environment and the people who live nearby. The aim of this study is to determine whether there is a correlation between the degree of perceived technological risk and the emotional value generated by the contemplation of the petrochemical industry landscape in order to try to establish strategic lines of action to mitigate the perception of risk and improve the emotional well-being of the population. This study uses manipulated pictures and a Public Participation Geographic Information System (PPGIS) survey to assess changes in perception and emotional response in residents in Teheran (Iran). Key findings show an insignificant relationship between technological risk and landscape value perception in both original and manipulated pictures. However, taking into account that, in general, in manipulated pictures, there is a more significant relationship, designing the landscape could help to mitigate the technological risk perception. This study contributes to the broader discussion about industrialization and its environmental and social consequences. It emphasizes the importance of considering public perception when planning and developing industrial areas, so as to balance industrial functionality and environmental and aesthetic considerations for long-term urban development.

To evaluate perceived risk, it is necessary to understand both the type of risk and the residents’ perceptions. With the rise of information on technology and digital platforms, new avenues have emerged for examining citizens’ risk perception in participatory settings. However, the lack of theoretical and methodological approaches in this area calls for further research. The objective of this article is to fill the existing research gap by conducting a scoping review of published literature that examines risk perception related to the petrochemical industry, specifically focusing on digital platforms and the utilization of participatory processes in assessing risk perception within this industry context. The review analyzes the types of questions and responses encountered during participatory processes. The authors selected and studied 10 papers in-depth after applying specific selection criteria. They identified two types of risks—natural and technological—associated with the petrochemical industry, and two types of questions: general questions such as demographics, education, and employment, and specific questions such as risk perception, trust in government and company information, type of risk, or proximity to polluted areas. The paper identifies two question types in participatory processes: general and specific. It emphasizes that the most frequent participation level is consultation, involving seeking public feedback for decision-making. Risk perception is a common topic in participatory processes, highlighting the importance of understanding and addressing public concerns about activities risks. Understanding risk and questions raised during participation is crucial to studying risk perception. This knowledge can improve policies, identify risk mitigation solutions, and identify relevant questions to aid in logical answers. Systematic Review Registration: http://www.prisma-statement.org/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

Mapping cognitive landscape perception is hindered by the difficulty of representing opinions that are spatially distributed in a heterogeneous way or not restricted by the locations of physical elements in the landscape. In recent years, the use of tools based on geographic information techniques has gained momentum in landscape assessment. We propose a methodology for generalizing cognitive landscape opinions on a spatial basis. To this end, we used a public participatory geographic information system to collect data, which is a method based on bipolar adjectives to approach users’ opinions, and the inverse distance weighted spatial interpolator and multi-criteria evaluation to undertake the spatial analysis. The study was conducted in the Ebro Delta, which is a protected wetland in northeastern Spain. The assessment was based on 1593 georeferenced opinions and resulted in a continuous geographic map of 330 km2 depicting positive and negative perceptions about the landscape. The area under study was perceived as productive, interesting, attractive, and, for the most part, quiet and peaceful, although it was seen as dirty in some parts. The method successfully mapped cognitive landscape opinions and establishes a novel procedure in landscape approaches.

This paper analyses public use in the Ebro Delta Natural Park using PPGIS (public participation geographic information system) methodology. An online survey was designed using Google Maps API, HTML, and JAVASCRIPT. Respondents were asked to place and rate thirteen items on an interactive map to characterize and georeference public use with regard to accessibility, facilities and services, signposting, safety and security, and leisure activities. In total we collected 209 valid surveys and mapped 2617 georeferenced opinions. Facilities and services were rated highly by users (72.46% were “very satisfied”). These were followed by accessibility (61%, “very satisfied”) and signposting (60.2%, “satisfied” or “quite satisfied”). Safety and security items were hardly rated perhaps because users do not feel insecure in the area. Respondents’ mapping of opinions and experiences, which are heterogeneous and were well rated, enabled us to visualize areas that might be understood as social hotspots. Our results show that PPGIS is an effective procedure for measuring public use in protected areas and may be a valuable tool for park managers and planners.

Landscape characterisation using social media photographs from popular platforms has been proposed as a landscape and ecosystem services approach. However, popular crowdsourced websites provide uncharacterized data and are only representative of the general public. Photographs from crowdsourced sports platforms, whose users are more homogeneous, could help to characterise landscape more uniformly. In this study we use automated content analysis from photographs on Wikiloc, a crowd-sourced sports platform, to characterize landscape in the Ebro Delta Natural Park, a protected area in Spain. Our approach applies big data procedures and spatial analysis to provide in-depth information regarding what draws visitors’ attention to a landscape and to ascertain their intrasite flow. Our results show that sports users are keen on natural landscapes and pay less attention to rural and degraded landscapes, and that areas closer to paths are more photographed than more distant areas.

Edge effects in temperate forests is studied, taking as a case study fragmented pine-oak communities of central Mexico. A total of 29 forest patches were sampled to recognize edge and interior areas with different composition and vegetation structure. In order to evaluate the edge effects at the landscape scale, we analyzed the impact of the amplitude of the edge and interior areas in 333 fragments with different spatial characteristics (size, shape and connectivity). The results indicate the existence of an edge-interior gradient that primarily impacts on forest biological composition. The area of lower ecological quality is the edge ( 50 m), which has high values of composition (diversity, richness and abundance), presence of species showing preference for outdoor environments (Prunus serotina, Quercus rugosa and Q. crassipes) and cultivated pine (Pinus patula) or disturbed environments (P. leiophylla). The core area (> 100 m), unlike the edge area shows lower compositional values, but with the presence of species that prefer indoor environments (Q. crassifolia, Q. obtusata and P. montezumae). A transition area (> 50-100 m) with overlapping exterior and interior species (Prunus serotina, Q. obtusata and P. teocote) was detected between both, but with lower composition values than those of the edge area and greater statistical similarity with the core area. While 93% of forest area corresponds to fragments still retain a core area and / or transition area, 7% is divided into a large number of small fragments formed exclusively by edge area; the latter are linear forms that pose a high potential for connectivity and restoration. This paper provides new information about the consequences of landscape fragmentation in temperate forests.

Se reflexiona sobre los humedales españoles incluidos en el Convenio Ramsar. Después de una sucinta contextualización, se reseñan sus principales rasgos territoriales y se aborda su caracterización desde distintos puntos de vista, a saber: localización, naturalidad, estructura física y génesis, entre otros aspectos de índole ambiental en los que ha resultado de gran apoyo la consulta de bibliografía especializada. Esta aproximación permite detectar distintas problemáticas que deben encarar estos espacios, como es el caso de las relacionadas con el acceso y calidad del agua, las afecciones territoriales o las ligadas a su aprovechamiento y gestión. Se hace hincapié en la inconsistencia del listado español, hecho que lleva proponer un intencionadamente breve recuento de zonas húmedas susceptibles de ser consideradas por el Convenio.

Se conoce que, de un tiempo a esta parte, distintos planteamientos han tomado el paisaje como eje central de su discurso, canalizando parte de sus propuestas a través del amplio abanico de las políticas públicas. De esta guisa, el concepto «paisaje» ha pasado a formar parte de la esfera de lo público y lo legislativo, favoreciendo una nueva coyuntura de gran interés en Geografía. En las líneas que siguen se resumen las principales ideas e instrumentos derivados de este encuentro, proponiendo una síntesis que tiene por objetivo resumir la diversidad existente.