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Article

Analysis Methods for Landscapes and Features of Traditional Villages Based on Digital Technology—The Example of Puping Village in Zhangzhou

by
Liangliang Wang
,
Yixin Wang
,
Wencan Huang
and
Jie Han
*
School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361001, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Land 2024, 13(9), 1539; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13091539
Submission received: 20 August 2024 / Revised: 16 September 2024 / Accepted: 18 September 2024 / Published: 23 September 2024
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Abstract

:
Many traditional villages have been degraded to a certain extent due to urbanization and out-of-control management. In addition, due to the lack of recognition and continuation of spatial texture in some village conservation and planning that, in turn, resulting in the gradual disappearance of their distinctive landscape feature. Studying the spatial form of traditional villages helps preserve the authenticity of traditional villages as cultural landscape and inherits traditional historical characteristics. Using Puping Village in Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province as an example, this paper obtains the integrated information data of the village through UAV oblique photography, classifies and extracts the spatial constitution of the traditional village using digital technology, quantitatively analyses it from macroscopic to microscopic, and summarizes the spatial morphology analysis method of the traditional village. The results demonstrate that digital technology can effectively and accurately complete data collection and can provide an objective basis for zoning conservation of traditional villages based on the distinction between new and historic buildings. In addition, digital information collection on the traditional villages landscape features will prepare for the establishment of a database and comparative analysis in the future. We further suggest that digital technology analysis needs to be combined with traditional methods to have a deeper understanding of the formation process of village spatial morphology. The results of the practice in Puping Village show that the use of digital technology can provide a scientific basis for the protection and planning of traditional villages, and that this method is adaptable, which can help to efficiently collect and analyze data on landscape characteristics of other similar villages in China, and support innovative methodologies and technologies for China’s rural revitalization efforts.

1. Introduction

As a unique concept in China, the traditional village is often regarded as a cultural heritage site, including historic villages, historic districts, and historical buildings, with early attention and protection given to them globally [1]. They are rural settlements formed spontaneously during the long-term interaction between people and nature and are also the non-renewable cultural resources of Chinese civilization [2]. However, according to research published in 2017, from 3.63 million in 2000 to 2.71 million in 2010, the number of natural villages in China declined dramatically [3]. Since 1978, rapid economic development has brought a building boom to the countryside, transforming many dilapidated and once quiescent villages [4]. Traditional villages are impacted by rapid urbanization; strong conflicts emerge between the protection of original patterns and cultural sites and modernization and new construction [5]. In the context of the Rural Revitalization Strategy, the current focus of work is enhancing the conservation and development of the traditional villages [6]. Studies of planning and protection of traditional villages must remedy the imbalance between rural modernization and traditional landscape conservation. To deal with the challenges, a full analysis of the rural settlement landscape and the application of digital technology can provide useful insight and open up a new way for the protection and development of traditional villages.
Since the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and other departments jointly announced the first batch of Chinese traditional villages in 2012, up to November 2022, there are six batches of 8171 traditional villages in China, of which Fujian Province has 552 traditional villages, accounting for about 6.8 percent of the total number of villages in the country, and there are also 607 provincial-level traditional villages [7]. The total number of national traditional villages in Fujian Province ranks sixth in China, and its quantity and quality occupy a leading position in the country, with outstanding value for conservation research [7]. However, in the Chinese context, the case study villages were concentrated mainly in the eastern coastal areas, such as Zhejiang (28%), Anhui (6.6%), Jiangsu (6.6%) Provinces, and southwestern areas, such as Guizhou (22%) and Yunnan (8.8%), where a variety of ethnic minorities live [8]. In addition to the legacy of ancient Yue culture, Fujian has had a large number of immigrants entering the province during different periods of history, bringing with them advanced culture from central China and forming a unique regional culture [9]. According to the differences in regional culture, dialect distribution, and geographical and climatic conditions, traditional dwellings in Fujian are classified into six categories [10]. However, research on these large, widespread, and valuable traditional villages in Fujian Province is very limited, which mainly focuses on the tourist hotspots and World Heritage sites [11], and lacks attention and in-depth study of ordinary but widespread villages. Both the grand and the mundane assemblages of rich and locally meaningful heritage should be cherished and preserved [12].

2. Literature Review

2.1. Rural Landscape Conservation

Since the Renaissance, “cultural” landscapes were designed and built around wealthy and powerful villas, palaces, and castles, and little concern was given to the “ordinary” landscapes [13]. It was only at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century that the Industrial Revolution’s transformations were considered devastating and threatening to the environment and the landscape [14]. The international study of rural landscapes has its origins in regional and historical geography [15]. As early as the 1840s, the German geographer J.G. Kohl made a systematic study of different types of settlements from metropolises to villages [16]. Otto Schlüter was the first to introduce the academic concept of cultural landscape at the beginning of the 20th century [17]. German scholars paid more attention to the relationship between natural and cultural environments, which laid the foundation for the subsequent development of landscape ecology [18]. The French school emphasized the importance of history in shaping distinctive regional landscapes but was more literal in its approach through observation and interviews [19,20,21,22]. The English approach focuses on mapping the landscape components, and later on, there was intensive use of aerial photography. This facilitated the establishment of a spatial framework for land evaluation [23,24]. The central place theory pioneered by the famous German geographer Christaller in 1933 laid the theoretical foundation for the study and practice of spatial distribution and organization of settlements [25]. In the 1940s, American scholar Taylor, using genetic analysis to compare the spatial structures of certain regional settlements, found the laws of spatial distribution and extracted the common core factors of settlement’s spatial form, which was defined as morphogenesis [26]. Since the 1960s, many scholars in Western and Japanese architecture have shifted their focus from monuments to vernacular architecture, which can also be seen from the fact that The Venice Charter extends the scope of monuments from buildings to cities and villages [27,28,29,30,31]. ICOMOS 1999 in Mexico published the first charter for preserving rural and vernacular heritage, and since then cultural landscape conservation has been an important topic at many international conferences [32,33,34]. Research on rural landscape conservation covers a wide range of interests, and this paper categorizes them into five main categories based on research perspectives: landscape alternation [35,36,37,38,39,40,41], rural landscape management and policies [42,43,44,45], landscape ecology [46,47], landscape features [48,49,50], and rural architecture [51,52,53,54]. However, these research has rarely analyzed the interplay between landscapes, buildings, and settlements [48]. Harmony between new construction with the original historic and cultural environment is important for the preservation of cultural heritage [27,55], so elements need to be identified through a consistency assessment [48,56].
Cultural landscape conservation practice in China has evolved in the direction of conforming to international practices and, contextually, retaining its own identity [57]. In Europe, the man-made cultural landscape is to a very high degree a landscape of farms and farming, and there is a scattering of rural buildings [42,51]. Thus, most cultural landscape studies focus on nature conservation [38,58,59]. However, in some rural areas of China, the population density is comparable to that of Western metropolises. In high-density rural areas, houses, homesteads, and villages are scattered across the landscape [60]. Furthermore, many settlements in China, existing before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, show evidence of a long history of occupation without much change to their architecture, material culture, arts and crafts, rural customs, and regional character, especially in mountainous areas where economic development is lagging and transport is underdeveloped [61,62,63]. Therefore, in addition to drawing on Western approaches to the study of rural settlements, it is also necessary to refer to local Chinese research.
Since the early scientific study of the society in rural China in the 1940s [64], several pieces of research have been conducted, focusing on the economic, spatial, social, or political aspects of the rural areas [65]. Similar to the West, it was not until the 1980s that scholars expanded their focus from residential architecture to village and vernacular architecture. Since the 21st century, Chinese scholars have begun to pay attention to the spatial morphology and architectural features of rural architecture and have applied the theories of European urban morphology on townscape region and townscape management to rural architecture planning [46,66,67,68,69]. The theory of townscape region can summarize the landscape features formed in different historical periods of the region and identify the areas with conservation value [66].

2.2. Application of Digital Technology in Rural Landscape Conservation

In recent years, along with the rapid urbanization in China, traditional villages and residents’ production and lifestyle have been greatly affected. Problems such as loss of cultural elements, building collapse, and encroachment of agricultural land have emerged, leading to changes in the original spatial features [70]. In the past, scholars mainly evaluated spatial features of traditional villages through field observation and recording [71,72]. Due to the large number and wide distribution of traditional Chinese villages and the highly complex, traditional methods are time-consuming and labor-intensive. And the data collected and conclusion made are prone to be subjective [73]. Therefore, the collection of spatial data has become the key to the cultural heritage and spatial conservation of traditional villages [67].
Since the 21st century, digital-protection-related research has developed rapidly, and research avenues have become more diversified. Digital technologies such as geographic information systems [5,38,74,75,76,77,78,79,80], 3D modeling [76,79,81,82,83,84,85,86], 3D scanning [61,84,87,88,89], VR [90], UAV photographic techniques [67,68,73,84,86,91,92,93,94,95,96,97,98], and other digital technologies are now being used internationally for cultural landscape conservation and extraction of building feature. By comparing the differences in the use of digital technology in China and internationally, it can be seen that China has widely applied it to rural landscape analysis, while foreign countries are more inclined to in-depth study and conservation of single buildings (Table A1). In addition, these digital technologies are often used in combination: for example, UAV photographic techniques can be combined with GIS and 3D modeling techniques to complete large-scale village distribution research and extract land-use situation [78,91]. The integration of drone photography with 3D scanning and 3D modeling techniques allows detailed and complete building plans and elevation parameters to be obtained [84,87]. It can be found that digital technologies have many advantages, such as low intervention, high efficiency, and strong visualization, and they also provide basic data for digital analysis techniques.
In summary, the use of morphological methods for the subdivided districts of traditional villages helps to inherit and protect the landscape features. Digital technology provides an opportunity to solve this problem efficiently and objectively. Therefore, how to use digital technology to identify the old and new landscape features of traditional villages and to define the conservation areas is the issue to be explored in this paper.

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. Research Area

Puping Village is located southwest of Wuzhai Township, Pinghe County, Zhangzhou City and opened during the Zhizheng period in the Yuan Dynasty. It is the ancestral home of Taiwan’s “Wufeng Lin family”, but it is also an important window and link with Taiwan. The village has a long history and retains a large number of historical buildings. It was listed in the third batch of provincial traditional villages in Fujian Province in 2020. It is surrounded by mountains and hilly terrain. The area of Puping Village is about 546 hm2 (Figure 1). The study area of this research is selected to be Puping Village because it has more aggregated traditional feature buildings, covering an area of about 4.92 hm2.
This paper aims to identify new and historical architectural features based on digital technology to divide the rural landscape conservation area. The data for this study come from official websites and institutions, literature collection, and field studies. Based on the previous research, the characteristics considered include the correct siting of the buildings to the natural contours of the landscape; their shape and form, materials of construction, colors, textures, subdivision of volumes; their relationship to existing buildings and groupings; the organization of the space surrounding the buildings that links them to the landscape [99]. Therefore, this study carries out a systematic analysis from three scales, macroscopically analyzing its site location, land-use classification, building distribution, and the relationship between the building and the natural environment; mesoscopically analyzing its architectural texture, spatial features, and its relationship with the street and public space; and microscopically analyzing the building colors, textures, and volumes. The village names, addresses, and basic information data in this article were obtained from the People’s Government of Pinghe County, Zhangzhou City, and the Natural Resources Bureau of Pinghe County, Zhangzhou City [100,101]. Satellite map data were obtained from Map World High-Definition Satellite Map Resource Library (GS2024 No. 0568). The scale of the map is 1:1, which allows for clear identification of the size, outline, and location of villages, and can be adjusted to match the study. UAV tilt photography is the main data acquisition technique, with the target being photographed by a UAV (DJI mavic 2pro, produced by Shenzhen Dajiang Innovation Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, China) over 1 day in June 2022, and software being used to jointly level the photographs, match key points, and obtain a digital surface model of the target (tilt-photography model) [102]. Physical spatial patterns such as village outline boundaries, village roads, buildings, public spaces, rivers and ponds were acquired through on-site tilt photography and modeled using contextcapture 3D reality modeling, and they were obtained using cloud compare point cloud analysis and extraction, combined with two field surveys and mapping in July 2022, to calibrate and errata the data. The live point cloud modeling and extracted spatial patterns were scaled to 1:1.

3.2. Method

The distribution of traditional buildings in Puping Village is relatively disorganized and is difficult to analyze the spatial form. The traditional surveys and manual measurements can hardly directly and stereoscopically reflect the traditional building distribution, architectural texture, and other characteristics [103]. Therefore, this study attempted to carry out the spatial constitution analysis of Puping Village through digital technology.
Firstly, through the drone tilt-photography modeling, using the Context Capture Center-23.0.0.1317, the photo data were intelligently processed to generate a point cloud model with spatial location information, i.e., a three-dimensional real-life digital surface model (Figure 2). According to the expansion characteristics of data processing and analysis, cloud compare point cloud analysis software was used to transform the model data into pseudo-color elevation maps and adjust the height thresholds corresponding to the colors, so that the base and objects on the ground could be separated, extracted, and screened, and the three-dimensional models of multiple subsystems, such as buildings, vegetation, roads, and the ground, could be obtained (Figure 3). Among them, the ground layer is called the digital elevation model, which can more accurately analyze the relationship between the settlement configuration and the landform. At the same time, eCognition-v9.5.1 intelligent image analysis software was used to train artificial intelligence on the orthophotos to obtain the land-use classification of the village. Then, the point cloud processing technology was used to count the distance, slope, morphology, and other data of the point cloud in each layer. The geomorphological zoning, mountain features, and overall façade at the macro were analyzed, as were the historical features such as the architectural texture, building height, and exterior space at the meso level. Finally, the features and local views of the individual buildings at the micro level were also analyzed (Figure 4).

4. Spatial Form Analysis

4.1. Macro-Level Analysis

4.1.1. Overview of Puping Village Spatial Pattern

The Lin Clan Ancestral Complex, which serves as the center of Puping Village, is surrounded by a substantial number of traditional buildings that have been preserved. On the periphery of the historical buildings, however, are a vast number of modern buildings that together form the internal pattern of the village. Puping Village presents the typical traditional pattern of southern Fujian villages, harmonizing with the surrounding mountains, water systems, and other ecological environments, leaning against the mountains and facing the water, with a feng shui pattern of “hiding the wind and gathering the qi”.

4.1.2. Land-Use Classification

Using the oblique photographic model the morphological characteristics of the special constitution of Puping Village and the surrounding natural envurinment features can be obtained (Figure 5a). By transforming the three-dimensional image model data into the orthophoto map (Figure 5b) and digital elevation model (Figure 5c), and actively adjusting the color corresponding height values of the digital elevation model to emphasize the subtle changes in the elevation of the village, the natural geomorphological characteristics of the village can be reflected.
Firstly, using eCognition software, the image map was segmented (Figure 6a), and some typicality plot samples (Figure 6b) were selected and given computer image recognition rules to distinguish the natural ecological elements and man-made built environment of Puping Village. As shown in Figure 6c, within the study area, 74% of the land is used for forest, 18% for urban and rural construction, 6% for cropland, and 2% for streams. Secondly, by analyzing the ecological environment elements of the village, it can be found that Puping Village has a beautiful ecological environment with dense vegetation and beautiful mountains within its boundaries, and the terrain is mostly hilly and mountainous.

4.1.3. Building Distribution Analysis

The lack of control over the scope and form of construction of modern buildings in most traditional villages results in a mix of the modern and traditional buildings, which makes it difficult to determine the historical features area. Therefore, this study takes advantage of the fact that the vast majority of historic buildings in traditional villages in the southern Fujian region have double-slope roofs and low heights. Based on the building layers separated from the point cloud of the 3D model, this study calculates the slope andheight of the point cloudfrom the ground and divides the buildings of Puping Village into two categories, namely historic buildings (with sloped roofs and low building heights, mostly built before the 1960s) and new buildings (with flat roofs and high building heights, mostly built after the 1980s). The distribution map of the two types of buildings was obtained by correcting the special building data with the bird’s eye view panorama Figure 7a). On this basis, the point cloud analysis software was used to do point-to-point distance calculation on the point cloud layers of the two types of buildings to obtain the distance heat map of historical buildings to modern buildings. Finally, the color threshold of the distance thermal map was used to adjust the range of the threshold value to obtain the influence range and boundary of the historical buildings (Figure 7b), which was used as the reference basis for the delineation of the core area of historical landscape [39].
Through the above analysis, combining the realistic protection difficulty of Puping Village and other factors such as the special geographical environment, the distribution of built heritage, and intangible cultural heritage, the red area in Figure 8 will be designated as the core historical feature area, the yellow and green parts influenced outwards by the traditional buildings will be set as the historical feature coordination area, and the blue area, i.e., the new part of the village, will be set as the construction coordination area, finalizing the zoning conservation map for Puping Village (Figure 8).

4.1.4. Analysis of Natural Environment Feature

As a typical mountainous settlement, the slope of Puping Village directly affects the pattern of its building clusters. To analyze the spatial pattern of mountainous settlements, two layers of topography and architecture were compared to study the cross-section slopes of different plots. Then, the distance of cross-section point cloud data was analyzed to calculate the slope value. In this paper, three cross-sections of settlements were selected (Figure 9). Combined with the information on the age of the buildings, it can be seen that the historical buildings are mostly distributed on the gentle slope and flat slope topography of 0°~10°, while the modern buildings are more often distributed on the slightly steeper slopes or reclaimed land topography of 10°~20°. The original village is a terrace spatial pattern. However, because of the population growth after the saturation of the village, the construction of village houses had to choose the areas with larger slopes. It not only destroyed the original terrace pattern but also caused problems such as high building density and limited open space.
In the subsequent village protection and planning, if new buildings built on steep slopes can be removed appropriately, it would yield beneficial outcomes. On the one hand, it can restore the spatial characteristic of the mountainous settlement and increase the open space. On the other hand, it can eliminate safety hazards. Utilizing vertical terrain analysis of oblique photography can break through the single dimension of the original plane slope analysis, sort out the layout patterns within settlement clusters, provide protection suggestions for construction zoning, functional nodes, and road design, etc. in special terrains, promote effective use of the village terrain, and maintain and continue the original spatial characteristics of the traditional villages.

4.2. Meso-Level Analysis

4.2.1. Architectural Texture Analysis

The architectural texture of traditional villages can be analyzed by building spacing and building form. Although this method cannot cover the characteristics of the architectural texture, it can determine the compactness of their villages more accurately. By calculating the proximity distance value from the point cloud data of the building layers (Figure 10), it is found that the building spacing in Puping Village is concentrated at 0.5~1.4 m; the building spacing in the core area is generally below 0.6 m; and the spacing of the newly built part of the buildings is at 1~2 m. It can be seen that the relatively high density and the compact layout are some of the important characteristics of the architectural texture of Puping Village.
In addition, the point cloud data of the building layers are processed, and the statistics of width, depth, height, roof slope, etc. show that the ratio of the depth and width of traditional buildings is concentrated in the range of 1:1~1:6, and the ratio of some buildings is 1:2. Then, we can count the range of changes in the architectural morphology of different groups, obtain the analysis of the architectural texture of the whole building, and use it as the reference value to control the architectural morphology. This method can accurately and efficiently grasp the overall characteristics of the architectural form of traditional villages and provide data support such as building volume and building spacing for subsequent remediation and construction.

4.2.2. Spatial Features of Buildings

To protect the traditional historical features of Puping Village, the study processed the point cloud data of historical buildings and new buildings separately and roughly judged the building heights by the number of point cloud heights from the ground. As shown in Figure 11, the point cloud height of historical buildings is concentrated at 3~6 m and reaches a peak of around 4 m, which shows that the building heights of traditional buildings are mostly around 3.5 m, and less than 9 m. By contrast, the point cloud analysis of new buildings showed that their heights reach a peak in the areas of 3, 7.5, 11, 14, 16, and 32 m, and the number of point clouds gradually decreases with the height, which indicates that the new buildings are mostly one to three floors, and a small number of buildings are more than five floors.
The point cloud analysis of building height was able to show that most of the new building heights in Puping Village meet the requirements of architectural features, but there are still a small number of buildings that are too high and affect the historical features. Taking into account the sightline and topography of different protected areas, the buildings affecting the features were screened, and remediation requirements were proposed. Subsequently, the peak height of 5.5 m of the historical buildings should be used as a reference element to formulate the height control requirements for the core geomorphological zones. It can be seen that comprehensive statistics and analysis of the point cloud data of the oblique photographic model is an effective means of setting parameter thresholds and quantitatively analyzing the requirements for the control of geomorphology, which has a high reference value.

4.2.3. Analysis of Streets and Alleys

Street and lane space is an important component of traditional village historical features. The height-to-width ratio of buildings on both sides of the street is a crucial indicator for assessing the spatial structure [104]. In the application, the separated building layers are used to filter vertical point clouds, and the street and alley layers are separated to obtain the point clouds along the village street elevation. Finally, the width of each street can be statistically calculated by batch calculating the point cloud distance between the two sides of the street. As shown in Figure 12, the width of the main street is basically in the range of 10 m, while traditional streets range from 1 to 6 m. Similarly, by extracting the point clouds of the streets and alleys from the oblique photography model, the aspect ratio of the streets and alleys can be counted. There is a significant difference between the height-to-width ratio of the alleys in the core area of Puping Village and the newly built area. The traditional alleys in the core area have a height and width ratio of 0.3~1, while the alleys in the newly built area have a height and width ratio of more than 1, and partially even higher than 2, which creates a certain sense of oppression and is mainly due to the high height of the newly built buildings.
The quantitative indicator of street-scale profiling and analysis of Puping Village based on oblique photography can be used to analyze the street characteristics of the village spatial features in a more scientific and systematic way and provide a basis for the subsequent conservation of the landscape. As a result, this analysis was able to provide a basis for the subsequent landscape protection and planning.

4.2.4. Analysis of Public Space System

Based on the previous analysis of the architectural texture, it was initially judged that there are fewer public spaces in Puping Village. Through the supervised classification function of eCognition (the image analysis software), the village orthophoto was segmented (Figure 13a), and the more typical public space in the village was selected as the analysis content. Then, based on the ground material, area, continuity, and other parameters of the sample for training, intelligent extraction of the village’s more open space, which removed the noise through the area size and retained the larger area, and finally combined it with the field research, the analysis of the distribution of public space in the village can be known as the current situation (Figure 13b). The public spaces are scattered in the village, and the two larger ones are located near the dock and the elementary school. By using spatial topology analysis to extract public space nodes, superimposing the village road connectivity analysis, and connecting the public space nodes with higher connectivity (Figure 13c), it can be found that, except for the wharf and the elementary school, the other public spaces are clustered in the vicinity of the ancestral homes of the clusters to form an independent public nucleus with weaker connections. The distribution of public spaces reflects the strong clan concept of Puping Village and the relatively independent spatial structure of the clusters. Because of this, the subsequent landscape conservation need to focus on the optimising the public space in combination with the marina, the primary school, and the ancestral house space, in order to appropriately improve the connectivity of the public space without destroying the characteristics of agglomeration development.

4.3. Micro-Level Analysis

In micro-level architectural features analysis, point cloud models of specific buildings can be isolated and the color, scale, height, and spacing of a particular type of building can be counted to analyze its architectural type, exterior form, and scale using the methodology described in the previous section. There are many ancestral hall buildings among the surviving traditional buildings in Puping Village, which are the most central and architecturally outstanding buildings in many Chinese villages (Figure 14). They embody both family and place-based identities [105]. These ancestral hall buildings are mostly typical of the traditional large houses in southern Fujian, with three-room and five-room houses, mostly in the form of San Chuan ridges, and with façades mostly in a 2:1 ratio relationship. At the same time, the façade data were analyzed by the image analysis software eCognition, which allows the extraction of a database of architectural style elements such as roofs, walls, doors, and windows. For detailed analyses of architectural features, digital technology was not able to replace traditional building mapping, but through the point cloud extraction of characteristic buildings, the features and scale relationships of the buildings could be preliminarily judged, providing a basis for subsequent detailed analyses.

5. Discussion

5.1. Providing Methodological Reference for Similar Studies

With the acceleration of urbanization and modernization, more and more traditional villages are gradually losing their natural environmental characteristics and spatial features inherited over the centuries [106,107,108]. This paper provides a research method for data acquisition using digital technology and spatial feature extraction from macro to micro, and then zoning protection of rural landscape. Firstly, aerial images of traditional villages were acquired by UAV tilt photography technology. Secondly, Context Capture Center-23.0.0.1317 software was used to generate a 3D model and classify and analyze the spatial characteristics of traditional villages by landscape elements through eCongnition, ClouCompare, and image intelligent segmentation technology. Finally, based on the extraction results, the core landscape protection area, landscape coordination area, and construction coordination area were objectively divided, and their impacts on the natural environment of the village and residents’ lives were analyzed. These analyses not only provide planners and designers with a comprehensive perspective: for example, analyses of natural landforms and land-use types provide an in-depth understanding of the morphology of the village and the wisdom of the ancestors in selecting the village’s location and the layout under the consderration of feng shui. Detailed parameter extraction of architectural features also helps to comprehensively understand traditional features and the repair and restoration of historical buildings. Rapid and comprehensive understanding of rural landscape through digital technology improves the efficiency and scientificity of the design, supplemented by the protection of villages, architectural restoration, and other design work, to improve the protection and inheritance of the traditional culture of villages, in particular, to optimize the protection of places and landscape of villages with blood and geography, which will help to strengthen the cohesion of villages to continue the traditional culture of villages [12]. The spatial data acquisition and feature extraction methodology go from the macro village morphology to the meso texture scale and then to the micro architectural style, layer by layer, and can be applied to the delineation of the protection scope of other traditional villages and the formulation of the style protection strategy, which is widely applicable and has a wide range of application value.

5.2. Limitations

Despite the high-resolution RGB images provided by UAVs, the three-band spectral information is too barren to distinguish structures in a complex village scenario [93]. In the future, traditional village spatial data collection and UAV data collection can be organically combined and integrated with 3D laser scanning technology and 3D modeling technology. By combining ground and air data, data collection can be carried out from multiple angles, further improving data accuracy and collection efficiency.
Digital technology analysis methods also have limitations and need to be combined with traditional research and analysis to be most effective. Digital technology is used to refine the spatial characteristics of a village by scanning and analyzing the existing physical space of the traditional village. To understand the cultural kernel behind the physical space, traditional means of research such as documentary excavation of village records and genealogies, interviews with local villagers, and experience of local folk culture are essential. Only by combining qualitative spatial structure analyses and quantitative field surveys can a deeper understanding be gained of the influence of clan and cultural factors on village spatial pattern.
Because the spatial morphology of traditional villages covers more diverse and complex elements than those presented in this paper, in order to simplify the analysis, the author divided the buildings into only two categories: historical buildings and new buildings. A more detailed categorization can be made in future analyses.

5.3. Future Avenues for Optimization

China has numerous villages. In addition to the villages in popular tourist destinations and heritage sites, there are also typical villages similar to Puping Village that are included in the list of traditional villages and many atypical villages with high conservation values that are not on the list [109]. Some of these villages face the problem that the new facilities built for tourism do not blend with the traditional features, and some of the new dwellings are inconsistent with the traditional features. This study provides more scientific identification techniques for old and new buildings that can also be extended to these villages to continue the uniqueness of each and promote village revitalization.
As the morphological research framework analyses landscape features in multiple dimensions, it is possible to draw lateral comparisons to derive changes in features over time or continuous [110]. This systematic study can be extended to these unattended but common villages in different regions. The creation of separate databases for each category, but with consistency in terms of technical means, type, and quality, would facilitate data sharing and cross-comparisons between different regions in the future.
In recent years, digital documentation has provided opportunities for the preservation and display of rural cultural heritage, and the extraction of rural landscape and architectural features in this paper provides basic data for the establishment of online digital museums, the management of digital heritage, and the enrichment of interactive experiences through virtual reality, which would further promote the development of village conservation and tourism economy.

6. Conclusions

Taking Puping Village as an example, this paper delves deep into landscape features by using digital acquisition and analysis technology and quantitative indices. It employs a rigorous methodology and utilizes visual expression and calculation of spatial characteristics of the village, land-use analysis, vertical topography, as well as analysis and statistics of building spacing, building height, street width, and public space. The insights garnered from this study not only enrich the comprehension of village morphologies but also set the stage for subsequent traditional village protection planning, which has the following advantages compared with the conventional analysis method.
(1)
The digital surface model is obtained by tilt photography, and the vectorized spatial texture such as orthographic projection, overall elevation, and local field of view of the settlement can be obtained quickly using digital technologies such as image processing, point cloud segmentation, and artificial intelligence. Compared with the traditional analysis method based on two-dimensional mapping, digital technology can not only quickly complete data collection but also provide a more intuitive and comprehensive three-dimensional model, which can help improve the scientific process of managing and conserving rural heritage.
(2)
The application of digital technology can improve the systematic construction of traditional village spatial constitutions. Through the intelligent recognition of the digital surface model, it can automatically classify and superimpose comparisons, generate multiple three-dimensional vectorized information layers such as terrain, buildings, roads, vegetation, etc., and can also be superimposed for comparison and analysis. This technological innovation can not only eliminate interference and analyze individual systems, but also expand the identification and understanding of the correlation between various spatial elements, which helps to analyze the overall spatial pattern of traditional villages systematically and comprehensively and is particularly important for the integral protection of villages with complex terrain.
(3)
Digital technology helps to break through the two-dimensional data analysis mode of traditional research, construct a multi-dimensional crosscutting vectorized database, and complete the quantitative analysis of spatial and environmental characteristics. Through the calculation of point cloud data, the quantitative statistics of the elements of traditional village features can be formed, which can not only condense the overall characteristics but also deduce the spatial and temporal evolution trend of traditional villages. This technological innovation helps to analyze the current conservation status of traditional villages with a large number of buildings, complex topography, and large areas and improves the fineness of the spatial morphology analysis, which builds a bridge between perceptual cognition to rational analysis. Over time, the database can continue to iterate and accumulate data information, which is important for the characterization of the rural heritage and the dynamic transmission of traditional architectural elements.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, L.W. and Y.W.; methodology, L.W., Y.W. and W.H.; software, W.H.; formal analysis, L.W., Y.W. and W.H.; investigation, L.W. and Y.W.; data curation, Y.W. and W.H.; writing—original draft preparation, L.W., Y.W. and W.H.; writing—review and editing, L.W., Y.W., W.H. and J.H.; visualization, W.H.; supervision, L.W. and J.H.; project administration, L.W. and J.H. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21FSHB021); 2022 Research on Science and Technology Innovation Think Tank Issues in Fujian Province (No. FJKX 2022XKB002); Xiamen University President’s Foundation (No. 20720220002).

Data Availability Statement

No new data were created or analyzed in this study. Data sharing is not applicable to this article.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Appendix A

Table A1. Research objects on the application of digital technologies in cultural landscape conservation in China and overseas countries.
Table A1. Research objects on the application of digital technologies in cultural landscape conservation in China and overseas countries.
Digital TechnologyGIS3D Modeling3D ScanningVRAerial Images and UAV Photographic Techniques
ChinaSpatial distribution of rural settlement [75]
Construct the spatial pedigrees of villages in Jiangnan region [76]
Spatial patterns of traditional village distribution evolution [5]
Cultural landscape security pattern of the Yangtze River Delta Demonstration Area, China [77]
Spatial patterns of village settlements in Diqing Prefecture [79]		Construct the spatial pedigrees of villages in Jiangnan region [76]
Modern Chinese architecture restoration [81]
Error analysis and accuracy assessment of the Great Achievement Palace [79]
Characteristics and damage analysis of HSBC bank in Xiamen [84]		Digital information gathering on the San Su Shrine encompasses [61]
Characteristics and damage analysis of HSBC bank in Xiamen [84]		Ancient buildings restorationDigitally model and restore the watchtowers in Tibet [93]
Spatial pattern of landscapes identification and analysis of Baojiatun Village [73]
Extraction and Analysis of Spatial Feature Data of Traditional Villages [67]
Extract new and old rural buildings [94]
Traditional village building extraction in Beijing [95]
Spatial Morphology of Traditional Yunnan Villages [68]
Characteristics and damage analysis of HSBC bank in Xiamen [84]
Classification model for a typical Traditional Village landscape and their spatial distribution pattern [96]
Evaluating the characteristics of the rural landscape of Zhanqi Village [91]
OverseasStructural changes in land-use, building and field patterns [38]
Monitor cultural heritage sites and monuments in Cyprus [80]
Landmarks as Cultural Heritage Assets Affecting the Distribution of Settlements in Rural Areas in Southern Poland [74]		Set of detailed architectural drawings for Mosteiro da Batalha [83]
Save information for historical Castle of Turin [84]
Investigate the existing Qatari built heritage [85]
Digital documentation of Mehmet Bey Mosque in the city of Serres [86]		Visualization of Large Monuments of Timurid Architecture in in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan [89]
Architectural survey of vernacular architecture of the Italian mountain area		Rendering and display for community settlement in Kandan, Iran [90]Buildings features extraction in Milan [92]
Three-dimensional surveying in documentation and restoration of Santa Maria Alemanna in Messina (Italy) [97]
Santo Stefano Church in Italy restoration [98]
Mehmet Bey Mosque in the city of Serres [86]

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Figure 1. Satellite map of Puping Village and the study area with the spatial boundaries of village building, Source: Drawn by authors based on the satellite base map of Map World GS (2024) No. 0568 Data Sources.
Figure 1. Satellite map of Puping Village and the study area with the spatial boundaries of village building, Source: Drawn by authors based on the satellite base map of Map World GS (2024) No. 0568 Data Sources.
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Figure 2. Puping Village physical space detail 3D realistic model. Source: Screenshot of the three-dimensional model of Puping Village generated by tilt-photography technology.
Figure 2. Puping Village physical space detail 3D realistic model. Source: Screenshot of the three-dimensional model of Puping Village generated by tilt-photography technology.
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Figure 3. Layered map of physical space elements in Puping Village, Source: Drawn by the author. Based on the 3D model, the CSF ground filtering method of CloudCompare-v.2.7 point cloud procssing software to separate the ground and unground feature; this was combined with principal component analysis and slope analysis to extract and separate the elements of greenery and buildings.
Figure 3. Layered map of physical space elements in Puping Village, Source: Drawn by the author. Based on the 3D model, the CSF ground filtering method of CloudCompare-v.2.7 point cloud procssing software to separate the ground and unground feature; this was combined with principal component analysis and slope analysis to extract and separate the elements of greenery and buildings.
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Figure 4. The technological route.
Figure 4. The technological route.
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Figure 5. (a) Panoramic view of Puping Village. Source: Screenshot of aerial panorama of Puping Village; (b) The orthophotograph of Puping Village. Source: Digital Orthophoto Map (DOM) based on oblique photography; (c) Digital elevation model. Source: Digital Surface Model (DSM) based on oblique photography.
Figure 5. (a) Panoramic view of Puping Village. Source: Screenshot of aerial panorama of Puping Village; (b) The orthophotograph of Puping Village. Source: Digital Orthophoto Map (DOM) based on oblique photography; (c) Digital elevation model. Source: Digital Surface Model (DSM) based on oblique photography.
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Figure 6. (a) Image segmentation chart; (b) Site classification extraction map; (c) Percentage of site classification chart. Source: Drawn by author based on eCognition intelligent image analysis software, the DSM map of Puping Village is intelligently segmented, and village elements such as green areas, buildings, water surfaces, roads, etc. are extracted based on the image filtering information and combined with artificial model training.
Figure 6. (a) Image segmentation chart; (b) Site classification extraction map; (c) Percentage of site classification chart. Source: Drawn by author based on eCognition intelligent image analysis software, the DSM map of Puping Village is intelligently segmented, and village elements such as green areas, buildings, water surfaces, roads, etc. are extracted based on the image filtering information and combined with artificial model training.
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Figure 7. (a) Distribution of traditional buildings chart, Source: Point cloud map drawn by the author based on cloud compare after filtering the point cloud of buildings for slope. Traditional buildings with sloped roofs in red, modern buildings with flat roofs in white; (b) Scope of influence of traditional architecture. Source: Radiation range map drawn by the author based on the distance between the point cloud of traditional buildings and the point cloud of modern buildings, with the deeper influence of traditional buildings in red and the weaker influence in blue.
Figure 7. (a) Distribution of traditional buildings chart, Source: Point cloud map drawn by the author based on cloud compare after filtering the point cloud of buildings for slope. Traditional buildings with sloped roofs in red, modern buildings with flat roofs in white; (b) Scope of influence of traditional architecture. Source: Radiation range map drawn by the author based on the distance between the point cloud of traditional buildings and the point cloud of modern buildings, with the deeper influence of traditional buildings in red and the weaker influence in blue.
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Figure 8. The Conservation Area Zoning Map in Puping Village. Source: Drawn by the author referring to Figure 7b Sphere of Influence Map; the topographic map of the village is combined with the topographic map of the village to differentiate and delineate the protection scope of the village along the building boundaries.
Figure 8. The Conservation Area Zoning Map in Puping Village. Source: Drawn by the author referring to Figure 7b Sphere of Influence Map; the topographic map of the village is combined with the topographic map of the village to differentiate and delineate the protection scope of the village along the building boundaries.
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Figure 9. Point cloud cross-sections of different areas of slope about building distribution. Source: Drawn by the author based on the regional fault intercept map and fault slope analysis mapping of the three-dimensional Realistic Model of Puping Village.
Figure 9. Point cloud cross-sections of different areas of slope about building distribution. Source: Drawn by the author based on the regional fault intercept map and fault slope analysis mapping of the three-dimensional Realistic Model of Puping Village.
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Figure 10. Building Distance Analysis Map of Puping Village Presenting Distance Thresholds Between Village Buildings. Source: Drawn by the author based on cloud compare’s distance calculation of 3D live model point cloud.
Figure 10. Building Distance Analysis Map of Puping Village Presenting Distance Thresholds Between Village Buildings. Source: Drawn by the author based on cloud compare’s distance calculation of 3D live model point cloud.
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Figure 11. Range of height values for historic buildings and new buildings. Source: Drawn by the author based on cloud compare, the point clouds of traditional building areas and modern building areas are analyzed for height at distance from the ground, respectively. The peak values obtained are the average building height values.
Figure 11. Range of height values for historic buildings and new buildings. Source: Drawn by the author based on cloud compare, the point clouds of traditional building areas and modern building areas are analyzed for height at distance from the ground, respectively. The peak values obtained are the average building height values.
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Figure 12. Street width range value field and alley range value field. Source: Building distance analysis maps drawn by authors based on cloud compare are performed on the point clouds of traditional building regions and modern building regions respectively. The value domain obtained is the average spacing of buildings in the region.
Figure 12. Street width range value field and alley range value field. Source: Building distance analysis maps drawn by authors based on cloud compare are performed on the point clouds of traditional building regions and modern building regions respectively. The value domain obtained is the average spacing of buildings in the region.
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Figure 13. (a) The image segmentation diagram; (b) The public space distribution map and the red dots are the public space; (c) Public space analysis and the grey area is a core of nuclear density consisting of several public space nodes. Source: Drawn by the author based on nearest-value domain connection of core points of empty public space extracted by image segmentation.
Figure 13. (a) The image segmentation diagram; (b) The public space distribution map and the red dots are the public space; (c) Public space analysis and the grey area is a core of nuclear density consisting of several public space nodes. Source: Drawn by the author based on nearest-value domain connection of core points of empty public space extracted by image segmentation.
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Figure 14. Traditional building facade texture and scale. Source: Drawn by the author based on building a monolithic model generated by oblique photography.
Figure 14. Traditional building facade texture and scale. Source: Drawn by the author based on building a monolithic model generated by oblique photography.
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MDPI and ACS Style

Wang, L.; Wang, Y.; Huang, W.; Han, J. Analysis Methods for Landscapes and Features of Traditional Villages Based on Digital Technology—The Example of Puping Village in Zhangzhou. Land 2024, 13, 1539. https://doi.org/10.3390/land13091539

AMA Style

Wang L, Wang Y, Huang W, Han J. Analysis Methods for Landscapes and Features of Traditional Villages Based on Digital Technology—The Example of Puping Village in Zhangzhou. Land. 2024; 13(9):1539. https://doi.org/10.3390/land13091539

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wang, Liangliang, Yixin Wang, Wencan Huang, and Jie Han. 2024. "Analysis Methods for Landscapes and Features of Traditional Villages Based on Digital Technology—The Example of Puping Village in Zhangzhou" Land 13, no. 9: 1539. https://doi.org/10.3390/land13091539

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