Particularly for overhead line projects, one of the most important factors to be aware of is the enduring visual impact of the development. This is most often qualitatively assessed during early project development but does not undergo detailed assessment (e.g. via Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment) until a final alignment has been selected. However, at this late stage of development there is minimal scope to make significant adjustments to the alignment and instead a process of mitigation is employed where possible. These mitigations are limited in effectiveness (e.g. using a shorter pylon) compared to earlier intervention.
<aside> ❗ The end result of accounting for visual impacts too late into development?
Fierce objection from affected parties with damaging effects to company reputation, accompanied by costly and time-consuming legal proceedings.
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At Continuum Industries, we have been developing a workflow with our customers to bring the assessment of visual impacts of overhead line development as far forward into project development as possible. By making sure that developers are aware of the likely impacts to sensitive receptors as early as strategic options assessment, this provides the maximum opportunity to minimise impacts during corridor and route development. Furthermore, unavoidable visual impacts can be identified and the appropriate stakeholders notified far earlier, allowing for the most meaningful and inclusive consultation possible.
<aside> 💡 Using Optioneer’s 3D Mode can help you orientate and understand the other outputs described below. You can toggle this on at the top of Map Controls in the Map View.
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See the image below, indicating the combined visual sensitivity (dark blue = low, yellow = high) accumulated from several visual receptors such as:
The aim of this is to use the landform and visual blocks (e.g. tree cover) to estimate the visual impact of placing a pylon anywhere in the project’s study area. This will allow developers to avoid the most visually sensitive areas when developing their routes and this can be refined as the project reaches later stages of development. Unavoidable visual impacts can be identified and the appropriate stakeholders notified to yield meaningful and inclusive consultation.
Example of visual sensitivity map to inform routing assessments as early as possible.
<aside> 🔧 Optioneer has a Design Rule that will calculate the viewshed of a route option and return a polygon containing this viewshed. Search for “Viewshed” in the Parameters page and specify the relevant parameters.
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The viewshed is the total area from which any part of the asset can be seen. The viewshed will be computed according to the following parameters:
Note that the viewshed is calculated after the optimisation has been carried out by Optioneer i.e. it will not impact the automated routing. To include visual impacts during route optimisation, contact your customer success contact at Continuum Industries to discuss using the Visual Sensitivity Map.
<aside> 🤔 If you have specific needs for viewshed calculations and functionality that you cannot find in Optioneer, get in touch with your Customer Success representative at Continuum Industries to discuss potential areas of further development.
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