A landscape performance approach focuses on quantifying the benefits of landscape, but how can something as multifaceted and relatively subjective as exposure to nature be quantified? NatureScore™ and NatureDose™ represent a new, technology-based approach to evaluating nature exposure for human health and well-being. These tools were created and released by the newly formed research and technology institution NatureQuant™ to promote and measure nature exposure in an accessible and context-specific way.

As a body of literature continues to confirm and clarify the importance of green spaces and nature to human health and well-being, a growing number of physicians are including exposure to nature among their recommendations to patients. And while there are many ways to measure nature exposure, most are time-consuming or require special equipment.

With a goal of making nature exposure easier to measure, the researchers behind NatureQuant™ developed the NatureScore™ dataset and tool, which utilizes geospatial datasets, exposure assessment, and big data/machine learning techniques to generate a “NatureScore” that rates any given environment on a scale from 0 (nature-deprived) to 100 (nature-rich). An ongoing initiative, NatureQuant OPEN, makes tract level data available at no cost and promotes open access. An accompanying free mobile app, NatureDose™, passively measures how long a person spends indoors, outdoors, and outdoors in nature using smartphone sensors, geolocation, and the NatureScore™ dataset. With these tools, environments can be evaluated in terms of how much nature exposure they provide, and individuals can track their nature exposure over time.

The underlying research, tool development, and application was developed by NatureQuant™. Many additional partners and collaborators supported the research, among them two landscape architecture faculty: Dongying Li, PhD, of Texas A&M University and Naomi Sachs, PhD of the University of Maryland. Their involvement in testing and applying the tool represents the importance of planning and design considerations in increasing nature exposure in cities and provide individualized interventions to harness the benefits of urban nature.

These tools take landscape performance evaluation to new levels by harnessing technology and multiple layers of data to ultimately simplify how nature exposure can be quantified and tracked. Learn more about the initiative and tools in the NatureQuant™ whitepaper, an associated open-access journal article, and a Washington Post feature.