For this assignment, I was instructed to perform a viewshed analysis of an object of my choosing. I chose the proposed site of two new, much larger Eversource storage tanks to be located on Peckham Rd. in Acushnet, MA, because I wanted to reflect how the assignment is relevant to real-world scenarios. Currently, there is some concern over the size of the tanks for several reasons, one being the potential impact on property value. I therefore used the data I had available to me at the time to show where in the surrounding area these tanks would be visible. Using Land Use data, I was able to show where forested area occurs in the towns of Acushnet, Freetown, and New Bedford. Based on a Google search that showed most local trees can grow to about 80 feet, I extruded the data to that height to account for the natural barrier this would pose to visibility. Since the towers are, at this point, imaginary, I created a point to represent the height (18.5 stories) and approximate location of the new tanks using what information was available to me. Running the viewshed analysis tool multiple times while adjusting the height of extrusion for my "Towers" shapefile, I show here where a particular portion of the tanks would be visible (none, 25%, half, 75%, all). However, there are some drawbacks to this map based on a lack of available data. For instance, I did not have access to data regarding the location and size of most man-made structures (such as residences, or the New Bedford hurricane barrier). Surely, this data would influence where these tanks will be visible from. For the purposes of this class assignment, however, this map adequately displays how a viewshed analysis functions.
