Landscape architecture and big data: it’s crunch time

Abstract

Big data is growing in volume, variety and velocity. It is becoming more available as open data due to rise in prominence and significance, along with an increase in government policies and inter-governmental agreements such as The Open Data Charter. Big data, if used as part of the design process by landscape architects, has the potential to broaden and inform site understanding. However, working with big data and analysing the diverse range of datasets is currently the main challenge. It is unclear whether the appropriate tools are available in landscape architecture to analyse and work with big data at present. Through a literature review, a critique and a matrix evaluation, a clearer understanding of the current tools used in data analysis approaches are presented. Three data analysis approaches are applied to a case study site (Waitangi Park, Wellington, New Zealand). The case study reveals that landscape architecture does not currently have the tools to work with big data and that there is a clear gap between analysing geospatial data and non-spatial data. The implications are that if landscape architecture is to take full advantage of working with big data, better tools and data analysis approaches need to be developed.