Risk perception during urban cycling in volunteered geographic information and in the lab: effects of the vista space’s spatial properties

ABSTRACT A wide range of factors affects risk perception during urban cycling. In this research, we investigate a factor so far not addressed: the spatial configuration of the vista space; with the underlying reasoning that more complex or rapidly changing vista spaces are perceived as more dangerous. We present a method to quantify a vista space’s spatial configuration by generating highly precise isovists based on laser scans. We test our assumptions in a lab-based study, where participants rate the perceived risk for cycling in various image sequences displaying complex traffic situations. The tested traffic situations are selected from a project collecting citizens’ reports about urban cycling risks. Our findings support the hypothesis that the spatial configuration of the vista space is a highly relevant factor for risk perception which deserves further investigation. Further analyses imply that volunteered geographic information on subjective topics such as risk perception may be of limited accuracy, but is likely to be representative for a larger population.