The Wide World of the Web for Landscape Architects

 

That the late twentieth century is replete with examples of exponential growth in technologies is nowhere more apparent than in the realm of telecommunications, computers and information technology. Five years ago, almost no-one had heard of the World Wide Web (WWW, or simply 'Web'); today its hard to imagine a major cultural institution without a home page. Two years ago, searching the World Wide Web for the keywords 'landscape' 'architecture' and 'design' yielded just a handful of references (and most of them from the Centre for Landscape Research at the University of Toronto.) Today, the same search yields over a hundred 'hits', including web sites and home pages for private practitioners, academic departments, government agencies, and even the ASLA's own LandNet. Today, any individual, corporation, academic or other entity that wishes to can, with very modest technical and financial investment, create a 'web site', or 'home page', which is like a page (or a chapter) in an electronic book; other computer users with the right software anywhere on the web can read the page and have access to all of its data, including text, images, sound and video, even to copy to their own computer system.

The salient feature of the Web, and one of its most exciting aspects, is the implementation of 'distributed multimedia hypertext' -- links between text information and other media (maps, images, videos, graphs, etc.) not only within one program or one computer, but across all the computers that constitute the worldwide web (hence the name.). Each page of the web, or any information on any page, can be associated with a 'hot link', guiding the reader to other associated information such as graphic illustrations, more detailed examples, or into other related parts of the web. Today most major universities as well as state and federal agencies maintain a Web site, offering everything from the text of recent legislation to hourly updates on weather and traffic conditions in major cities. Any computer owner with a modem (or other connection to the Internet) and some simple 'Web Browser' software can 'surf the net', making connections throughout the world.

In addition to all of the general purpose computer, information- and entertainment-oriented resources available on the World Wide Web, and amid the proliferation of sometimes banal, idiosyncratic, idiotic, political, obscure and crassly commercial or actually obscene material which abounds in cyberspace, landscape architects -- practitioners, educators, students and allied professionals -- will find much of interest and value on the Web, including:

professional organizations


Professional organizations such as the ASLA, AIA, and others now consider the Web an obvious and cost-effective way to connect with and provide services to their members, as well as to other interested Web surfers. ASLA's LandNet ( http://www.asla.org/ ) ( Figure 1), for example, provides access to a range of resources and links to other related sites. The AIA's home page (at http://www.aia.org ) does likewise. Using one of the various 'Web searching' tools is a good way to find web sites of interest like these, (except note that the keyword 'ASLA' will find the American Seminar Leaders Association', and 'AIA' finds 'Athletes in Action', so a good rule is to provide a few extra keywords to help narrow your search!) The web, coupled with e-mail and other telecommunications techniques, stands poised to augment or replace the traditional monthly mailings and special publications that are so essential to these organizations' role.

schools and universities


Many schools and universities have adopted the web wholeheartedly as well (some now even accept applications over the web.) Many undergraduate and graduate programs in landscape architecture can be found listed at LandNet's Education Link, along with hypertext links to the schools' home pages. A random sampling of such pages includes Harvard's Graduate School of Design (at http:www.gsd.harvard.edu/) , the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Idaho (at http://www.uidaho.edu/larch/) , and the School of Landscape Architecture at the University of New South Wales, Australia (at http://www.arch.unsw.edu.au/faculty/land/landhm.htm ) . Individual courses are also using the web, as a way of coordinating student projects or enabling community outreach. See for example Professor Brian Orland's graduate Landscape Architecture/Planning studio at the University of Illinois (at http://imlab9.landarch.uiuc.edu:80/~eslarp/la/LA437-F95/LA437-F95-main.html ) or the course in 'Virtual Gardens' at Harvard's GSD ( at http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/~gsd6321/ ).

The Centre for Landscape Research (CLR) at the University of Toronto, a hub for collaborative ventures between sites in North America and throughout the world, has established CLR-NET, a central clearing house for landscape architecture-related information on the Web (at http://www.clr.toronto.edu:1080/clr.html ) ( Figure 2 ) This web site -- the longest running site, and possibly the largest, devoted to landscape architecture and related topics -- represents a collaborative venture between Professors John Danahy, Rodney Hoinkes, and others at the CLR, and other computer-using landscape architects and students throughout the world. From this site, electronic visitors can learn about the activities of the Center, download images and software (the CLR has developed and distributes CLRView and POLYTRIMS for the Silicon Graphics family of computers) as well as link to other related information throughout the Web, including a locally maintained site documenting case studies of contemporary landscape architecture, (at http://www.clr.toronto.edu:1080/VIRTUALLIB/CLIP / )

Other academic sites of note include the Planning and Architecture Internet Resource Center (PAIRC) at SUNY at Buffalo, a collation of links to many state and national park sites: at http://www.arch.buffalo.edu/pairc/landscape_architecture.html and an on-line bibliography of architecture and landscape design resources on the net, maintained by Louisianna State University, at http://www.lib.lsu.edu/hum/arch.html , and a listing of MLA theses and projects maintained by UMASS /Amherst, at http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~larp/

governmental web sites and data banks


Governmental data banks, such as those maintained by the USGS ( Figure 3) are a major new development arising from the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) ( Figure 4 ). Digital maps and data compatible with a variety of GIS and CAD software are made available from most federal and many state agencies concerned with natural resources and land management. The home page of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Park (at http://www.nps.gov ) ( Figure 5 ) the National Fisheries and Wildlife Service ( http://www.nwi.fws.gov/ ) ( Figure 6) and NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program (at: http://www.nos.noaa.gov/ocrm/srd/Welcome.html are just a few of the nodes on the evolving world wide web (and catalogued on the master list of geospatial data web sites maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency at http://www.epa.gov/docs/oppe/spatial.html ) providing valuable information for landscape architects and planners, which may be threatened by current political efforts to 'downsize government' (many of these federal web sites were inoperative during the budget stalemate in December 1995)

Sites such as these are typical of the Internet itself, a voluntary association of academic, governmental, research and commercial organizations who all agree to abide by certain protocols in the organization and structure of their computer networks such that they can be readily interconnected, and marked by a certain amount of ad-hoc design, a substantial lack of 'user-friendly' interface (due largely to the dominance of the Unix operating system), and a certain insulation from (and in some quarters actual disdain for) market forces. The modern Web, by contrast, is all about appearance and market forces, and private sector commercial enterprises comprise an ever increasing portion of all Web sites.

trade and commercial listings, information on software


Many major companies have joined the rush to mount 'home pages', providing specifications and ordering information for their products. Such pages are much easier to keep current than CD-ROMS, which get out of date rapidly The use of the web to disseminate catalog-like data is bound to grow rapidly in the near future as more and more potential consumers are routinely connected. Trade groups especially can benefit from the interconnected nature of the Web; see for example the home page of the environmental industry ( http://www.enviroindustry.com/ ), or the home page for floriculture, horticulture and arboriculture at http://www.plantnet.com ( Figure 7 ).

Computer hardware and software information, of course, is a natural for the Web. Many vendors now use the web to distribute updates and add-ons to their software, as well as provide technical support and other services to users and potential users, which until recently would have been provided through text-only electronic bulletin boards. Most major GIS and CAD software vendors, for example, can be found on the web, as well as any number of opinionated users' reviews and comments. (See for example, http://www.autodesk.com , http://www.intergraph.com , http://www.softdesk.com , http://www.esri.com )

private practices' 'web portfolios'


Private practice firms have also quickly become aware of the benefits of 'web portfolios', and have taken on their creation as a worthy design challenge in its own right. The office of Hargreaves Associates in San Francisco, for example, maintains an attractive web site ( http://www.hargreaves.com ) ( Figure 8 ) which not only advertises the firm, its work and its principals, but also helped in a major design project for a college campus which emphasized modern communications technology in its program. Wallace Floyd Associates (at http://www.wfa.com/) is another with multi-media web-presence. Anderson Associates in Blacksburg, W. Virgina, a multi-disciplinary firm describing itself as 'surely the most computerized planning office in the region' has maintained a 'home page' on the Web for several years as part of the pioneering Blacksburg Electronic Village. The California firm Progressive Landscape Architecture is yet another firm with 'web presence' ( http://www.cyberg8t.com/wroberts/landarch.html ( Figure 9 .)

newsgroups, archives and discussion forums


Professor James Palmer at the State University of New York at Syracuse established an electronic bulletin board and discussion group for landscaper architects. The 'Landscape Architecture Electronic Forum' or LARCH-L, now has a large list of global subscribers and a lively discussion of a variety of topics, some computer-related, many not. Recent 'threads' or continued topics of discussion have included the general meaning of sustainability and its interpretation in a variety of works of landscape architecture, including golf courses; the use of computers in landscape design education; and the role of native and exotic plants in landscape design. This discussion has had the spontaneous character of a person-to-person roundtable discussion, but with several hundred people listening in and able to comment at any time. Users of Internet's newsgroups can find much the same at the newsgroup called 'alt.landscape.architecture'. The last several years worth of ARCH-L are archived on the Web at http://www.clr.toronto.edu:1080/ARCHIVES/HMAIL/larchl/larchl.intro.html

(Web sites addresses, contents, and formatting undergo frequent change, and there's no guarantee that pointers into cyberspace will still be good in the future. It's all part of an evolving network with very few 'standards')

collaborative research enterprises, postings by individuals


The WWW was originally conceived of and designed to support the collaborative work of groups of scientists (physicists at the CERN European Particle Physics Laboratories, which you can read about at http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/History.html ) Many other researchers, educators and activists have now started to utilize the web in related ways. Professor Carl Steinitz of the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), and Professor John Danahy at the Centre for Landscape Research at the University of Toronto have been among the pioneers using the Internet in collaborative landscape planning and design projects. Currently Steinitz and colleagues are engaged in research linking computers at Harvard and in Utah, California and Oregon. The home page of the Camp Pendleton / Biodiversity Research Project can be found at: http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/brc/brc.html ( Figure 10 )

Another example of this kind of use of the web is the 'East St. Louis Action Research Project' from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ( at http://imlab9.landarch.uiuc.edu/~eslarp/ ).

Individuals too post useful or interesting information on their own pages. See for example the page for environmental professionals , including pointers to many regulatory, informational and other governmental and industry sources, maintained at http://www.clay.net/ep1.html . A version of my previous article in LAM on integrating GIS and CAD can be found on the web at http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/~servin/giscad/giscad.html , . And you can also visit 'Ed Armstrong's home page' at http://shiva.uoregon.edu/staff/armstrong/eds_page.html

The 'Web' is not just a metaphor, for there truly is an interconnected network of individuals, institutions and organizations, around the world, opening up new possibilities for design, planning and information sharing in cyberspace. For a taste how interdisciplinary design might work, and virtual landscapes might look, in the future, visit the CLR's Crossings project ( Figure 11) -- an experiment in networked collaborative design using the WWW, at http://www.clr.toronto.edu:1080/PROJECTS/Crossings/Cross1.html

Just as the Web has already had a rapid evolution, so it continues. To get a glimpse of what the next new technology coming down the pipe will be (already is!), read up about Sun Microsystems 'Java'; a system for distributing software along with multimedia information over the Web! (You can look at http://java.sun.com or http://www.apexsc.com/vb/internet.html as starting-off points.) How this will impact landscape architects is still just speculation, but in a year or two (or less)....

This article is also available in a hypertext version on the web, at http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/~servin/landweb/landweb.html

The author can be reached by e-mail at: servin@gsd.harvard.edu

The End.