Using Mobile Devices to Undertake Woodland Inventory

The Northwoods Innovation Programme hosted a webinar with Jez from Evolving Forests which looked at conducting woodland inventories digitally using mobile devices including an in-depth and focused on Arboreal Forest.

Arboreal Forest App: Using mobile devices to undertake woodland inventory

Understanding the state of a woodland, not just its biodiversity and health, but also an inventory of the trees within it, is vital to good woodland management. In the past this has been undertaken using tape measures and expensive specialist equipment. A number apps are now available to help with inventory work and we'll be exploring one of these, Arboreal Forest.

The app allows users to measure diameter, height and species in sample plots to produce volumes and basal areas for compartments. We'll look at how the app works, show a demonstration and discuss how we are using it in different forest types from monocultures to continuous systems, broadleaf woodland and even urban forestry. Finally we will discuss how this app and other monitoring apps may be able to be combined with mapping platforms to give a comprehensive overview of the forest.

Evolving Forests

Evolving Forests inhabits the expanse between tree growing and timber use. The Forest Integrate project is one of their latest Woodland and Forestry projects. Funded by the Forestry Commission's 'Woods Into Management Forestry Innovation Fund’, Forest Integrate will test how data from digital tools could flow between platforms to make assessing woodland conditions and management planning a more seamless and accessible process. The project brings together a group of collaborators to work to test this premise, including Sylva Foundation with their myForest mapping platform, and Arboreal Forest’s inventory app. Down the line, integration of apps for ecological assessment, and supply chain tools will be also explored.

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Arboreal Forest

Arboreal is a smart phone application aiding the collection of inventory data digitally. Arboreal wants to make it easy for every Forester and Forest owner to accurately measure their forest using only a smart phone and employing the latest AR technology

The webinar is provided as part of the Northwoods Innovation Programme which is looking to bring woodlands into management in the North East and Yorkshire & The Humber regions. The project is funded through the Forestry Commission Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Fund.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email us at northwoods@reheat.uk.com