Evaluation of Konya Selcuklu Kanyon Park Landscape Design Using Eye Tracking Technique

Abstract

Eye-tracking technology is a method that provides qualitative and quantitative results by monitoring pupil movements with the aid of infrared rays. In this study, visual perception and behaviors regarding the landscape design of Konya Selçuklu Kanyon Park were evaluated through the eye-tracking method with the participation of volunteers. In this context, images obtained from the research area were shown to 28 participants using eye-tracking technology. In the study, Areas of Interest (AOIs) were defined as landscape components (plants, urban furniture, and pavements). Based on these defined areas of interest, heatmaps and eye-tracking metrics (average fixation duration and fixation count) were obtained through eye-tracking software. Repeated Measures ANOVA analysis was performed using the data obtained from the eye-tracking metrics. The findings revealed statistically highly significant differences between the landscape components in terms of both eye-tracking metrics (p < 0.001). It was determined that participants showed the highest visual interest in plants (61.68 units; 3.48 sec), followed by urban furniture (20.79 units; 3.20 sec), while pavements received the lowest visual interest (16.25 units; 1.42 sec). Bonferroni-corrected pairwise comparison (post-hoc) tests showed that plants significantly differed from all other landscape components in terms of fixation count, while they had similar values to urban furniture in terms of average fixation duration. This situation indicates that plants play an "attention-grabbing" role, while urban furniture undertakes an "information processing" role. Pavements, which received the lowest visual interest in both metrics, ranked at the bottom of the visual hierarchy.