Calculating the inherent visual structure of a landscape (inherent viewshed) using high-throughput computing

This paper describes a method of calculating the inherent visibility at all locations in a landscape (‘total viewshed’) by making use of redundant computer cycles. This approach uses a simplified viewshed program that is suitable for use within a distributed environment, in this case managed by the Condor system. Distributing the calculation in this way reduced the calculation time of our example from an estimated 34 days to slightly over 25 hours using a cluster of 43 workstations. Finally, we discuss the example ‘total viewshed’ raster for the Avebury region, and briefly highlight some of its implications.