arXiv subjects

Tuuli Toivonen

Publications and source records attributed to Tuuli Toivonen.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A global framework to estimate urban spatial cycling patterns based on crowdsourced data

Cycling is a cornerstone of a sustainable mobility transition in cities. Cycling research depends on the data available, but it has been difficult to produce or access these data in comparable ways. Sports tracking platforms like Strava have been transformative in mass-tracking cycling patterns and data sharing through applications and data competitions. Nevertheless, access to data has remained limited. Here, we present a framework that draws on the openly accessible Strava Global Heatmap to estimate spatial patterns of relative cycling intensity on an urban scale. To refine the raw heatmap outputs, we weighted them with population and point of interest (POI) counts within varying buffers. The cycling patterns were validated in a global context, comparing the heatmap values with cycle count data from 29 cities. Both population and POI weighting delivered high correlations in most cases between the heatmap and the cycle counts, POI weighting performing better overall. The strongest associations between Strava heatmap and cycle counts were observed in European cities and along the North American east coast, with p>0.7 for all, and p>0.8 for most cities. Additionally, the performance of our approach improved with higher cycling modal share at the city level. We demonstrate that a POI-weighted Strava heatmap can accurately represent urban cycling patterns and provide estimates of categorical cycling volumes. Our approach can be applied with relatively low effort to support the planning for urban cycling if official counts are sparse. Furthermore, it can enable the use of consistent cycling data for large-scale urban cycling analyses.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2025

It is not always greener on the other side: Greenery perception across demographics and personalities in multiple cities

Quantifying and assessing urban greenery is consequential for planning and development, reflecting the everlasting importance of green spaces for multiple climate and well-being dimensions of cities. Evaluation can be broadly grouped into objective (e.g., measuring the amount of greenery) and subjective (e.g., polling the perception of people) approaches, which may differ -- what people see and feel about how green a place is might not match the measurements of the actual amount of vegetation. In this work, we advance the state of the art by measuring such differences and explaining them through human, geographic, and spatial dimensions. The experiments rely on contextual information extracted from street view imagery and a comprehensive urban visual perception survey collected from 1,000 people across five countries with their extensive demographic and personality information. We analyze the discrepancies between objective measures (e.g., Green View Index (GVI)) and subjective scores (e.g., pairwise ratings), examining whether they can be explained by a variety of human and visual factors such as age group and spatial variation of greenery in the scene. The findings reveal that such discrepancies are comparable around the world and that demographics and personality do not play a significant role in perception. Further, while perceived and measured greenery correlate consistently across geographies (both where people and where imagery are from), where people live plays a significant role in explaining perceptual differences, with these two, as the top among seven, features that influences perceived greenery the most. This location influence suggests that cultural, environmental, and experiential factors substantially shape how individuals observe greenery in cities.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2025

Assessing Greenspace Attractiveness with ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini: Do AI Models Reflect Human Perceptions?

Understanding greenspace attractiveness is essential for designing livable and inclusive urban environments, yet existing assessment approaches often overlook informal or transient spaces and remain too resource intensive to capture subjective perceptions at scale. This study examines the ability of multimodal large language models (MLLMs), ChatGPT GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Haiku, and Gemini 2.0 Flash, to assess greenspace attractiveness similarly to humans using Google Street View imagery. We compared model outputs with responses from a geo-questionnaire of residents in Lodz, Poland, across both formal (for example, parks and managed greenspaces) and informal (for example, meadows and wastelands) greenspaces. Survey respondents and models indicated whether each greenspace was attractive or unattractive and provided up to three free text explanations. Analyses examined how often their attractiveness judgments aligned and compared their explanations after classifying them into shared reasoning categories. Results show high AI human agreement for attractive formal greenspaces and unattractive informal spaces, but low alignment for attractive informal and unattractive formal greenspaces. Models consistently emphasized aesthetic and design oriented features, underrepresenting safety, functional infrastructure, and locally embedded qualities valued by survey respondents. While these findings highlight the potential for scalable pre-assessment, they also underscore the need for human oversight and complementary participatory approaches. We conclude that MLLMs can support, but not replace, context sensitive greenspace evaluation in planning practice.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2025

Do Street View Imagery and Public Participation GIS align: Comparative Analysis of Urban Attractiveness

As digital tools increasingly shape spatial planning practices, understanding how different data sources reflect human experiences of urban environments is essential. Street View Imagery (SVI) and Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) represent two prominent approaches for capturing place-based perceptions that can support urban planning decisions, yet their comparability remains underexplored. This study investigates the alignment between SVI-based perceived attractiveness and residents' reported experiences gathered via a city-wide PPGIS survey in Helsinki, Finland. Using participant-rated SVI data and semantic image segmentation, we trained a machine learning model to predict perceived attractiveness based on visual features. We compared these predictions to PPGIS-identified locations marked as attractive or unattractive, calculating agreement using two sets of strict and moderate criteria. Our findings reveal only partial alignment between the two datasets. While agreement (with a moderate threshold) reached 67% for attractive and 77% for unattractive places, agreement (with a strict threshold) dropped to 27% and 29%, respectively. By analysing a range of contextual variables, including noise, traffic, population presence, and land use, we found that non-visual cues significantly contributed to mismatches. The model failed to account for experiential dimensions such as activity levels and environmental stressors that shape perceptions but are not visible in images. These results suggest that while SVI offers a scalable and visual proxy for urban perception, it cannot fully substitute the experiential richness captured through PPGIS. We argue that both methods are valuable but serve different purposes; therefore, a more integrated approach is needed to holistically capture how people perceive urban environments.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2024

Urban Visual Appeal According to ChatGPT: Contrasting AI and Human Insights

The visual appeal of urban environments significantly impacts residents' satisfaction with their living spaces and their overall mood, which in turn, affects their health and well-being. Given the resource-intensive nature of gathering evaluations on urban visual appeal through surveys or inquiries from residents, there is a constant quest for automated solutions to streamline this process and support spatial planning. In this study, we applied an off-the-shelf AI model to automate the analysis of urban visual appeal, using over 1,800 Google Street View images of Helsinki, Finland. By incorporating the GPT-4 model with specified criteria, we assessed these images. Simultaneously, 24 participants were asked to rate the images. Our results demonstrated a strong alignment between GPT-4 and participant ratings, although geographic disparities were noted. Specifically, GPT-4 showed a preference for suburban areas with significant greenery, contrasting with participants who found these areas less appealing. Conversely, in the city centre and densely populated urban regions of Helsinki, GPT-4 assigned lower visual appeal scores than participant ratings. While there was general agreement between AI and human assessments across various locations, GPT-4 struggled to incorporate contextual nuances into its ratings, unlike participants, who considered both context and features of the urban environment. The study suggests that leveraging AI models like GPT-4 allows spatial planners to gather insights into the visual appeal of different areas efficiently, aiding decisions that enhance residents' and travellers' satisfaction and mental health. Although AI models provide valuable insights, human perspectives are essential for a comprehensive understanding of urban visual appeal. This will ensure that planning and design decisions promote healthy living environments effectively.

cs.HC↗