Forest integrate

We are fascinated by the way forestry can sit at the intersection of traditional craft and modern technology. We use craft in much of our work but also believe technology is a huge opportunity for the sector.

An online platform for woodland inventory and management

Funded by the Forestry Commission’s Woods Into Management Forestry Innovation Fund, and in collaboration with Sylva Foundation, Arboreal Forest and Northwoods. The Forest Integrate project exists to build and test a platform of linked apps. Apps that enable woodland owners and managers to better understand and monitor their woodlands efficiently and easily whilst simultaneously creating focussed management plans.  

What’s the need? 

A lack of proper woodland management is often partly due to how time consuming and costly it can be to conduct woodland inventories and condition assessments. Luckily, there are now a number of digital tools that can aid with this dilemma. Sylva’s MyForest platform and Arboreal Forest are two digital inventory tools we’ve been playing with lately. These online apps and platforms make woodland planning and management a process that is open to a wider range of users. There is one snag though. We’ve found them to be somewhat limiting as they don’t seamlessly integrate across each other. As a result they are not quite as efficient or accessible as they could be (or as we would like them to be). 

We are testing how to combine data from woodland management and condition assessment tools, and playing with how we can enable data to flow between platforms using API keys making the whole process of planning a seamless, joyful, and accessible one.

Integrating woodland inventory and management 

We begin with Sylva’s MyForest platform as the test bed. Other measurement tools can then be integrated into the management planning process from there. Initially we will focus on the inventory app Arboreal Forest which allows rapid inventory data collection using Lidar and photogrammetry enabled in mobile phones, providing calculations of tree volumes, basal area and carbon stored. We will then follow this with integration of ecological assessment tools, and supply chain tools such as Timbeter and Cloud Forest.

Working with Northwoods, we will test the usability of the platform. Testing will take place across varying geographic contexts and user groups. This will provide a thorough assessment of the potential success of an integrated system. 

End goal

The goal is to enable small woodland owners to head into their woods, mobile device in hand, and leave with an accurate and informative inventory. The inventory can then be effortlessly saved into a platform associated with their woodland mapping. And this in turn is integrated into their management plan and plan of operations with ease.

Internally the end goal is to start understanding and developing digital tools. We are interested in the vast amounts of remotely sensed data that is being collected, in use of AI and, currently in using digital games to train woodland managers and understand people's attitudes. We've built up a strong relationship with the digital team at Sylva, possibly the world's only Chartered Forester turned digital developer, and a number of university departments specialising in digital tool development and data analysis. We excited to see where this goes!