1,823 research outputs found

    GIS applications in forest operations and road network planning: An overview over the last two decades

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    A systematic literature review was settled to investigate the application of GIS in terms of methods, complexity and accuracy to support decision on forestry operations and forest road network planning. A comprehensive search for relevant studies was performed to retrieve as many relevant international scientific publications dealing with forestry operations and forest road network planning in the period 1996\u20132015. The analysis was based on the development of a systematic literature review comprising three steps: \uf0de implementation of the database searches by well-defined search terms \uf0de identification of all the publications meeting the requirements of the search terms by abstract \uf0de choice of the most relevant publications analysis of the contents. In this review, \ubbGIS and forest operations\uab includes all the descriptors dealing with GIS ap- plied to support forest operations decision and analysis, while \ubbGIS and forest roads\uab includes all the papers dealing with the analysis, management and planning of forest road or forest road networks. A total of 372 references and 82 publications were selected for the analysis as they were clearly in conformity with the review topics (GIS applications in forest operations and road network planning). The analysis showed that GIS has also been applied successfully and unambiguously to har- vesting and transportation engineering in forest operations management. Further to the pre- vailing use concerning applications to support tactical planning, a significant number of recent publications have turned successfully to GIS applied at operational level. Again, despite the prevailing use concerning applications to support tactical planning, a significant number of recent publications have also turned successfully to GIS applied at operational level with the topics of Forest Operations Management in terms of optimization, productivity and safety analysis. By considering the recent evolution and improvement of GIS technology and the increasing availability of spatial data, as well their improvement in quality and resolution, the application of GIS in forest harvesting and transportation engineering as well as in forest operations management will expand in the near future

    Google Earth for Landowners: Insights from Hands-On Workshops

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    Google Earth is an accessible, user-friendly GIS that can help landowners in their management planning. I offered hands-on Google Earth workshops to landowners to teach skills, including mapmaking, length and area measurement, and database management. Workshop participants were surveyed at least 6 months following workshop completion, and learning outcomes as well as landowner application of Google Earth were assessed. Participants made significant gains in Google Earth skill level immediately following workshop completion, but longer-term skill retention was variable. Most participants found Google Earth to be a valuable tool for a variety of land management purposes

    CSREES School of Natural Resources Comprehensive Five-Year Review

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    Spreading of Antarctic Bottom Water in the Atlantic Ocean

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    This paper describes the transport of bottom water from its source region in the Weddell Sea through the abyssal channels of the Atlantic Ocean. The research brings together the recent observations and historical data. A strong flow of Antarctic Bottom Water through the Vema Channel is analyzed. The mean speed of the flow is 30 cm/s. A temperature increase was found in the deep Vema Channel, which has been observed for 30 years already. The flow of bottom water in the northern part of the Brazil Basin splits. Part of the water flows through the Romanche and Chain fracture zones. The other part flows to the North American Basin. Part of the latter flow propagates through the Vema Fracture Zone into the Northeast Atlantic. The properties of bottom water in the Kane Gap and Discovery Gap are also analyzed

    Planning harvesting operations in forest environment: Remote sensing for decision support

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    The goal of this work is to assess a method for supporting decisions regarding identification of most suitable areas for two types of harvesting approaches in forestry: skyline vs. forwarder. The innovative aspect consists in simulating the choices done during the planning in forestry operations. To do so, remote sensing data from an aerial laser scanner were used to create a digital terrain model (DTM) of ground surface under vegetation cover. Features extracted from the DTM are used as input for several machine learning predictors. Features are slope, distance from nearest roadside, relative height from nearest roadside and roughness index. Training and validation is done using areas defined by experts in the study area. Results show a K value of almost 0.92 for the classifier with best results, random forest. Sensibility of each feature is assessed, showing that both distance and height difference from nearest road-side are more significant than overall DTM value

    Road Network Planning in Tropical Forests Using GIS

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    This study intended to develop a road network planning for timber harvesting in tropical forests in Peru using georeferenced and field data and Geographic Information System (GIS). The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Alos Palsar 12.5 m was used. The DEM was processed to generate the hydrography and terrain slope maps. A weighted raster was created using overlapping weights of the slope raster and the hydrography map. We created a least cost path raster by using the weighted raster origin and destination points. We used a Triangular Irregular Network (TIN) to validate the Least Cost Path. In addition, histograms of the trajectory of each path with altitude and slope values were generated. We observed that the forest road planning using GIS provided better definition (economically and environmentally) of road networks in our forest site than those traditionally defined using conventional mapping techniques

    Reconstructing contested landscapes : Dynamics, drivers and political framings of land use and land cover change, watershed transformations and coastal sedimentation in Java, Indonesia

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    The dissertation examines land use, watershed, and coastal dynamics, their drivers, and related environmental governance and management approaches in Java, Indonesia. It questions long-standing narratives about the drivers of high river sediment loads and coastal sedimentation and contributes new insight into the dynamics and causes of these processes. The research thus deconstructs political discourses about watershed and coastal change and reconstructs these dynamics. It combines political ecology, land change science and historical cartography and utilises a broad range of related methods to directly link physical environmental changes with (historically rooted) struggles over resource access and control, and related political framings and modes of action. The most insightful findings of this research were generated at the intersections of the different themes, approaches and methods
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