Monitoring the Touristic Values of European Landscapes

On European scale there is a lack of data concerning preferences from tourists for certain landscapes. The website www.myplacetobe.eu is the innovative tool to collect and monitor data about landscape preferences but without using costly inquiries. The visitor can choose between sixteen land use types and supplemented features in his/her search for a touristic destination in Europe and fill in how much he or she wants of a certain land use type. The application draws a personalized map of Europe which indicates where the European landscape corresponds closest to the user’s stated preferences, using all kinds of digital topographical data. All preferences and maps are saved in a special database E-scape. The database already has almost 20.000 maps and is still growing. Forest is the most preferred land use type for European tourists.