A high landscape aesthetic quality (LAQ) arguably is an important ecosystem service that positively affects humans’ health and well-being. It is strongly appreciated by citizens and provides the backdrop and precondition for many outdoor activities. The objective of this paper is to map and assess the LAQ of landscapes across Germany. We developed and tested a method for a spatially explicit national assessment of LAQ. The method uses landscape diversity, naturalness and uniqueness as established indicators for landscape attractiveness, and applies several landscape metrics as proxies to spatially evaluate and map each of them. The results demonstrate that the LAQ varies substantially across Germany. Areas of high LAQ are located in the German high and many low mountain ranges, in riverine landscapes, and at the German coast and islands, whereas particularly low LAQ scores are found in urban agglomerations and intensively used open agrarian landscapes. The proportional distribution of values shows that most area is covered with mediocre scores, and that areas of extremely high or low scores are rare. The results respond to the EU biodiversity strategy’s request to member states to map and assess ecosystem services, and can usefully inform national and sub-national policy-, plan-, and decision-making.

较高的景观美学质量（LAQ）可以说是对人类健康和福祉产生积极影响的重要生态系统服务。它受到了公民的强烈赞赏，并为许多户外活动提供了背景和前提。本文的目的是绘制和评估整个德国的景观LAQ。我们开发并测试了一种对LAQ进行空间明确的全国评估的方法。该方法使用景观多样性，自然性和独特性作为确立景观吸引力的指标，并应用几种景观指标作为代理来对每个景观指标进行空间评估和绘制地图。结果表明，整个德国的LAQ差异很大。高LAQ区域位于德国的高低山脉，河流景观以及德国的海岸和岛屿，而在城市群和密集使用的开放式农业景观中发现的LAQ得分特别低。值的比例分布表明，大多数区域覆盖中等水平的分数，而分数极高或极低的区域却很少。该结果响应了欧盟生物多样性战略要求成员国绘制和评估生态系统服务的要求，并且可以为国家和地区以下的政策，计划和决策提供有用的信息。