Despite continued Covid related disruptions to the running of the annual ForestTECH event, ForestTECH 2021-22 ran, albeit virtually as an on-line event on 23-24 February this year. Over 300 delegates from 15 different countries were registered for the event. Feedback has now been collated and the response from those involved, excellent. Feedback from delegates also very clearly told us that; …

Telecommunications giant Telstra is starting its own carbon farm, growing trees to reduce its emissions. Big polluters that want to move towards net zero emissions need to buy carbon credits to offset what they put into the atmosphere. But not enough carbon credits exist in Australia, so Telstra boss Andy Penn is becoming a farmer. “A carbon farmer,” he laughed. …

From a forest biosecurity perspective, there is growing interest in forest surveillance processes capable of providing information on foliar disease present within the planted estate. Monitoring strategies often rely on aerial surveys to provide this information; they are, however, infrequent and only cover a small proportion of the forest estate. In this article, we present the results of a collaborative …

Reforestation company DroneSeed has announced its largest sale of offsets to date to Shopify, a leading provider of essential internet infrastructure for commerce, which is on a mission to reverse climate change. As part of the post-fire reforestation, native trees of multiple species will remove 50,000 tonnes as they grow over the next century on a legally protected site. A …

Over the past decade, drones have become an increasingly important tool for forest monitoring. They’re a fast and effective way to collect a lot of data in one go, without upsetting the natural balance too much. Formed as a spinoff of the University of Pennsylvania’s GRASP Laboratory in 2020, Treeswift has been working to build out that promise. Founders Steven …

Critical labour shortages are the catalyst for companies to finally automate and boost our decades-long productivity stagnation On December 19, 2013 a 20-year-old Levin man, Lincoln Kidd, was crushed to death by a falling tree – the 10th forestry worker in New Zealand to die in a single year; the 27th in four years. Forestry was setting the wrong sort …

The median price of forestry farms across New Zealand has increased by 45% over the last year from NZ$6,487 per hectare to NZ$9,394 per hectare according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) source of the most complete and accurate real estate data in New Zealand. This increase may be largely the result of the Government incentives to …

The world’s first two automated logging truck scalers, commissioned by Mount Maunganui-based ISO Limited, are now scanning logs at Port of Tauranga, New Zealand. The Robotic Scaling Machines (RSM) give a faster, safer and more accurate measure of logs on the trucks and trailers than the manual process. Tauranga-based agritech company Robotics Plus designed and built the automatic logging truck …

Europe is readying a new fleet of satellites that will monitor CO2 emissions at every point on earth, creating the first worldwide system to independently track polluters. The fleet of three satellites is slated for launch in 2025, in time to inform the UN’s global stocktake of greenhouse gas emissions three years later, the European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed to …

Victoria’s largest ever acquisition of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data across 1.35 million hectares of Victorian public forests has just commenced. This work will provide important information for supporting decision-making during the RFA and forest modernisation process. Mapping the location and density of high-conservation value forests, such as ecologically mature forests and rainforest, with the assistance of the LiDAR …

The Bay of Plenty is one of the eight regions that will receive co-funding from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) to obtain LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) elevation datasets. Eight Regional Councils, in partnership with their Territorial Authorities and others, have applied for and will receive NZ$14 million of co-funding from the PGF to obtain LiDAR elevation datasets. Land Information …

In Waypoint’s newest segment, Ask Andrea, senseFly’s Product and Training Manager, Andrea Blindenbacher, answers questions on launching and landing a mapping drone, such as why it’s important to take off and land against the wind and what do if something unexpected happens during your landing approach. I get this question a lot, and with fixed-wing drones, such as the eBee …

This article relates to how young tech savvy graduates are now being attracted to the oil and gas industry. Transpose the oil and gas industry to forestry. There is an important message here. The image displayed is from a recent forestry open day run for interested school students in Southland with a young local forestry company representative (Matt Cotterrell, City …

New research into Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a growth driver for Australian businesses, today revealed that just over half of Australian organisations (54%) have started to adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) as part of their business strategy, despite 80% of Australian business leaders believing AI is important to their organisation’s competitiveness over the next three years. The study found that Australia …

By 2021, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will allow the rate of innovation in New Zealand to double. Employee productivity gains are also expected to increase 1.5 times, according to a new AI study released by Microsoft, in partnership with IDC Asia/Pacific. The research, “Future Ready Business: Assessing Asia Pacific’s Growth Potential Through AI”, found more than three-quarters of business leaders polled …

Forestry software company Treemetrics intends to double, if not treble, its workforce over the coming 12 to 18 months as it embarks on a plan to drive revenues from €1 million to €40 million by the end of 2022. The Cork-based company, whose clients include Coillte, the World Bank Group and the European Space Agency, is lining up a multi-million …

Lim Geomatics is thrilled to play a part in the next chapter of Canadian innovation that will see homegrown companies play a much bigger role in the world economy for big data and digital technology. The rubber recently hit the road for Canada’s Innovation Superclusters Initiative—the $950-million federal government plan for jumpstarting public-private collaboration to accelerate global competitiveness—with the announcement …

This web map compares Pre and Post fire, 3m resolution satellite imagery, of the of the Pigeon Valley Fire 2019, Nelson area. The imagery uses the near-infrared band. Using this display helps the burnt areas stand out to the naked eye. The deep red colour represents healthy forest vegetation. Dark grey/blackish areas are those burned by the fire. Pale pink …

In a paper first published in Nature.com, the authors discuss an interesting applied technology use case, using both drone data collection and AI to allow for the more frequent and accurate detection of specific individual animals or species of animals. The use case is for koalas, which in addition to being cute and cuddly are shy creatures. Koalas reside in …

Showcased at a press conference in Barcelona, Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 augmented reality headset promises more features, better virtual and augmented displays, and a more comfortable experience when wearing the headset. Yes, the HoloLens headset might look as if it has been built for playing video games – not a surprise, given the mixed reality project has its origins in Microsoft …

Guest post by Mark Sheehan, My Drone Authority With the global increase in demand for clean food and other agricultural products, Australian farmers and ranchers are finding that drones are returning critically-needed information on the health of their enterprises. Drones are quickly proving their worth in an otherwise time- and labor-intensive industry. Here is how drones are being used in …

CSIRO’s Data61 has announced the opening of its new Robotics Innovation Centre in Queensland, a purpose-built research facility for robotics and autonomous systems, an industry set to be worth AU$23 billion by 2025. Data61 is one of the global leaders in the field, with capabilities ranging from legged robots and 3D mapping through to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned …

Developing tree breakage models is a key parameter in the modelling of forest yield.   To model the height at which a stem breaks during harvesting and before log-making can start, allows for correct allocation of recoverable stem volume in which logs can be made from.   This is one of the Biometric methods which are used to during the log-making process together …

Society is undergoing enormous disruption due to the continuous adoption of new digital technology and the forest industry is poised to take advantage of some of these. But successful replacement of longstanding and proven technology and forestry systems and meeting new information needs doesn’t happen by chance, and there is considerable risk to avoid failed implementations, waste of money and …

If you don’t think drone deliveries are going to take off (excuse the pun), think again. While the U.S. and Europe inch closer to drone delivery, China is racing ahead. China’s leading e-commerce company, JD, has launched an agressive trial that the company says will lead to 50% of its packages being delivered by drone. Xinhua.net reports that New Year’s …

Israeli drone provider Airobotics has secured the first-ever approval by Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority to operate drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) from a remote operations centre. In addition, the unique waiver allows the company to operate without the need of an air crew on site, making it the first such waiver issued by CASA. Remote pilots are …

Finnish pilot develops new solution for sustainable forestry Europe is feverishly looking for new ways to use farm, forest and fishery resources more responsibly and sustainably and to promote the production of the best possible raw materials in order to increase the availability of food, energy and biomaterials. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, the Finnish Forest Centre and …

Land Information New Zealand develops tool to enable public to help fight spread of wilding conifers, which can threaten productive farmland, native ecosystems, tourism, economy; Wilding Watch can be used to find new infestations and upload photos. A new tool to enable the public to help fight one of New Zealand’s most invasive species has been created by Land Information …

Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, has announced that it would be extending its Earth observation capabilities by acquiring Australia’s first CubeSat designed to detect invisible infrared light. To be known as CSIROSat-1, the new satellite will allow researchers from CSIRO and other institutions to ‘see’ features that can’t otherwise be seen using satellite imagery in the visible spectrum. Although the …

Scion, New Zealand’s CRI for forestry and wood products,has a new top-of-the line lidar scanner – the Riegl MiniVUX-1 UAV Snoopy V-series manufactured by LidarUSA. The new piece of equipment has higher resolution and accuracy than Scion’s current scanner, and has an increased range. Being able to capture data at greater than 60 m above ground (and up to 120 …

Using voxel-based analysis of aerial lidar is a promising new development in remote sensing. In the past, high-density lidar has largely been restricted to terrestrial laser scanners. Now, high-density scanners are being mounted on helicopters and UAVs flying close to the tops of forests to provide very fine-scale imagery of trees. This kind of scanning generates very dense point clouds …

SimActive is a leading developer of photogrammetry software. The Canadian company, which was founded by two brothers – Louis and Philippe Simard – in 2003, celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. GIM International recently interviewed Philippe Simard about the recent developments in digital photogrammetry, the company’s flagship product Correlator3D, automated classification of point clouds, the influence of drones in the …

Many of us will have watched TV or movie dramas where a bunch of luckless travellers get totally lost in a dense forest. They hear the unmistakable sound of a helicopter nearby and start waving frantically. Most often, the rescuers will fail to see them and the life-threatening adventure starts anew. Being unable to spot hikers under a thick canopy …

While foresters don’t necessarily have to abandon their diameter tapes and vertex hypsometers, there is no denying that rapidly-evolving remote sensing technologies are revolutionising forest management practices. Field-based inventory methods and sampling designs can estimate variables such as height, volume, basal area and number of trees fairly accurately, if enough sampling plots are included, but this approach is labour-intensive and …

Forget the across-the-ditch rivalry: New Zealanders, Australians and Americans are working together to launch a fleet of satellites to power the world’s global IoT communications from space. Rocket Lab and Australian IoT startup Fleet Space Technologies have signed a contract to launch two Proxima satellites this month. The satellites are the first of a series of small, low-cost satellites that …

What’s the single most important factor to help facilitate a successful fixed-wing UAV flight? It’s a question we get a lot from UAV (drone) operators across the world. And while it would be great to point to just one thing you could do to ensure every flight is a success, the reality is that there are many factors that contribute …

A new NASA laser instrument set to launch to the International Space Station in December will help scientists create the first three-dimensional map of the world’s temperate and tropical forests. The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation, or GEDI, is scheduled to launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. From the station, GEDI’s advanced laser technology will reveal the three-dimensional structure of forest …

Councils in New Zealand that can’t afford three-dimensional mapping of their territories stand to gain from a NZ$19 million grant from the Provincial Growth Fund. Land Information and Economic Development ministers Eugenie Sage and Shane Jones announced the decision to increase funding for so-called LiDAR, or 3D, mapping because of the need for a national database to assist with land …

Delair has announced a new drone platform specifically optimized for the agriculture and forest industry, the Delair UX11 Ag. Built on the foundation of the successful Delair UX11 fixed-wing UAV, the new version combines the productivity benefits of long-range/BVLOS flight operations with highly accurate survey-grade mapping and plant data collection capabilities – all in an easy-to-use platform – to enable …

Placed first in Australia and 20th in the world in the 2016 QS University Rankings, Australian National University (ANU) is a research institution with its main campus in Canberra, the country’s capital. Research currently underway in a joint effort between ANU and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is tracking tree growth and development over time using GeoSLAM’s …

The Centre for Space Science Technology (CSST) and Airbus Defence and Space have announced a partnership agreement, which will give New Zealand businesses, industry, government and the research community access to an even wider selection of high resolution, weather independent, near real-time satellite imagery. “In the past, New Zealand has lagged behind other nations in our application of Earth observation …

After a successful release in Australia, Universal Forest Systems has announced that they will be launching the Forest Inventory Reporting System (FIRS) in New Zealand at the Foresttech conference in November. “FIRS is an innovative end-to-end solution for designing forest inventories, capturing data, analysing the captured data and reporting the results” says Ashley Goldstraw, Forestry Apps Developer for Universal Forest …

CSIRO’s Data61, the technology arm of Australia’s national science agency, is competing in the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Subterranean (or “SubT”) Challenge , which aims to explore new approaches to rapidly map, navigate, and search underground environments. Data61’s Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group, one of the leading robotics and autonomous systems research groups in the world, is …

This report by Harsh Choudhry and Glen O’Kelly for McKinsey & Company looks at which advanced technologies for forest management are most promising, and how forestry companies can start their digital transformation. The authors argue that while digital technology is revolutionising industries around the globe – from manufacturing to healthcare to agriculture – forestry has lagged behind. However, this is …

Based on innovative Waveform-LiDAR technology, RIEGL laser scanners and systems provide an outstanding high-density point cloud ideally suited for applications in forestry and precision agriculture. Advanced processing algorithms account for a full exploitation of the information included in scan data. The high-performance multi-target capability enables an excellent vegetation penetration resulting in a high number of ground returns that can be …

We recently covered two stories on remote sensing for forestry applications. Below is information linked to a new service being supplied by a South African company, Swift Geospatial who will be presenting at the Australian leg of the upcoming ForestTECH 2018 series on 20-21 November. The company is providing their clients with geospatial solutions derived from Satellite and Unmanned Aerial …

In the recent years there has been a marked uptake of remote sensing technologies. Drones and LiDAR have acquired a high profile. These indisputably have a place provided they are cost-effective, deliver consistent results, and add value. Not to go unnoticed, though is the increased availability of satellite imagery and technological advances that allow repeat assessment of forests at low …

Whether you’re the owner of a small private woodland or a forestry company responsible for millions of acres, Rezatec have created a free, useful guide on identifying and mapping tree species distribution. Understanding what tree species you have and where they are is critical for effective forest management and commercial decision-making. The ‘Earth Observation for Tree Species Mapping’ guide, available …

Classification Approaches and Method Comparison Point clouds are used as a data source for mapping tasks in various application fields. Before an object can be mapped, it needs to be detected in the point cloud, preferably by automatic means. The development of detection methods is a complex task due to the significant diversity of objects, the random structure of point …

Forest management has undergone a transformation in recent decades. Management regimes have shifted from treatments that were applied to entire forests, to precise programmes, that can be tailored to single tree and are based on detailed data attained by remote sensing. Of the remote sensing technologies available to forest managers, satellite-based photogrammetry (the use of multiple images to extract measurements …

Forestry Corporation NSW (FCNSW) is exploring the possibility of commercialising its highly successful iOS-based MapApp mapping application. The MapApp: Collects, displays and shares spatial information for field-based activities including ecology surveys; forest, land and fire planning and management; audit and compliance; roading; and many more Is readily customisable with multiple modules Works offline and seamlessly integrates with corporate ESRI GIS …

The Latrobe Valley-based Hazelwood Forestry company in Victoria, Australia is using unmanned aerial vehicles to keep an eye on the local koala population. According to the Latrobe Valley Express, the implementation of camera drones is helping Eloise and Russel Cluning spot the animals amidst the thick foliage before felling any trees. This process saves time and manual labor while efficiently …

While pizza deliveries seem to have caught the press and news articles eye, this innovation in the use of drones can equally show the true potential of these tools being used in the forestry sector. Traditionally planters need to restock their seedling supplies manually by returning back to the stock pile reducing productivity through downtime associated with ferrying new trees …

UAV multispectral imagery and satellite data can be used to monitor physiological stress in trees. Researchers from Crown research institute Scion treated selected Pinus radiata with herbicide to stress the trees. The colour of the pine needles changed as the herbicide took effect. The changes were monitored over time using a UAV-mounted multispectral camera, and using data collected from the …

Virtual, augmented and mixed reality are no longer just for gamers and tech demos. Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has called augmented and virtual reality the next major computing platform and is predicting that these technologies have the potential to replace smartphones and personal computers within 10 years. Even now, they’re becoming an important tool for big business. Most sectors see …

A warming New Zealand could help its plantation forests grow – but not without extreme fire risk almost doubling by the end of the century. Scion researchers have modelled what climate change will mean for the country’s plantation forests, taking into account everything from growth gains to risk from pests, disease and wind. The modelling suggested changing climatic conditions – …

With forest company’s industry wide faced with fibre accessibility challenges, the name of the game today is supply chain optimization. A technology company based in Vancouver believes the solution is in forestry-specific data collection and analytics. Big data — a buzzword for the storage and analysis of large, complex data sets from multiple sources — has taken most industries by …

Field Surveys are an important part of sustainable forest management. Most of the forest departments across Canada have been using traditional paper-based surveys. However, Manitoba Forestry and Peatlands Branch digitalized their survey workflow using mobile geospatial technology. Tony Viveiros and Marianne Porteous at Manitoba Sustainable Development elaborate more on their use of geographic information system (GIS) technology to increase efficiency …

For the past four years, holographers, engineers, Unity developers and 3D graphic artists have been putting their minds together to create the seemingly magic Looking Glass—a holographic display that uses both lightfield and volumetric technologies. Further details can be found on their website and Kickstarter campaign. Check out the technology in the Youtube clip below.     Image Credit: Through the …

Last November as part of this region’s ForestTECH series that ran, local forest resource managers heard from Airbus Defence & Space on progress being made on a raft of projects including work on combining drone and satellite technologies and their solar-powered Zephyr, an aerial platform that operates in the space between conventional satellites and manned aircraft. The company has just …

Swift Engineering’s Swift020 unmanned aircraft system (UAS) recently completed flights over densely forested areas in Japan. The company worked with the Ishikawa Prefecture Research Center for Agriculture and Forestry, the local forest cooperative association and key forestry industry leaders during the mission, according to a news release. The flights were completed within the Ishikawa Prefecture, where the density of the …

You bought a GPS receiver. Or, maybe, you just want to get more out of the data from your current receiver. What’s next? Juniper Systems have compiled a list of 13 GPS and GNSS apps and solutions that will make your data collection smarter, better, and more efficient. Here are Android, Windows 10, and Apple iOS app options picked by …

The California Air National Guard‘s 195th Airlift Wing recently launched a drone reconnaissance mission to aid firefighting efforts in northern California. At least six people have been killed by the raging wildfires with more than 500 homes and buildings decimated. The unit deploys a MQ-9 Reaper drone to monitor and track the blaze. The drone flights collect data, imagery and …

In 1907, just a few years after the Wright brothers lifted off in Kitty Hawk, and while human flight was still being measured in metres and minutes, Dr. Julius Neubronner, a German apothecary, submitted a patent application for a new invention: the pigeon camera. The device was precisely what it sounds like—a small camera fitted with straps and equipped with …

A team of researchers from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) is creating a Transformable Hovering Rotorcraft (THOR) and hopes their design can address the fact that multicopter drones cannot cover long distances. While THOR received a lot of coverage when first announced last year, there is a lot of potential for these designs within the forest industry. THOR …

Not far from Tel Aviv a drone flies low over a gritty landscape of warehouses and broken pavement. It slowly approaches its home — a refrigerator-sized box inside a mesh fence, and hovers, preparing to dock. It descends like some giant bug, whining all the way, and disappears into its base where it will be cleaned, recharged and sent back …

The impact of forestry on the East Coast came to the fore last month as Tolaga Bay was deluged with offcuts. How did it come to this, asks Michael Smith. Satellite images show how the disaster in the forests at Tolaga Bay on New Zealand’s was a long time in the making. The length of time and the extent of …

Facebook has quietly announced that it will no longer be continuing with its Aquila project, a giant drone designed to fly at high altitude and beam down internet connectivity to remote areas. In a blog post written by director of engineering Yael Maguire, the company admitted that growing competition in the space from established aerospace businesses meant that Aquila was …

Are photogrammetric point clouds superior to Lidar point clouds, or is it the other way around? To address this topic of ongoing debate, a study Switzerland-based study by Lerch Weber AG conducted a terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) survey together with an unmanned aerial system (UAS) photogrammetric survey of a gravel pit. In modern surveying, the numerous measurement methods can be …

Australia and New Zealand are closer to developing a joint trans-Tasman standard for forest management following a joint meeting recently between the boards of Responsible Wood and the New Zealand Forest certification Association (NZFCA) in Wellington. Responsible Wood and the NZFCA operate PEFC-endorsed sustainable forest management systems in Australia and New Zealand respectively. A significant outcome of the meeting between …

Drone technology has the potential to transform our economies to be more sustainable and efficient, according to a new report from PwC. The professional services group looked at the impact that drones could have upon the UK economy, finding significant improvements across all sectors. Adopting new technologies, such as drones, are seen as important ways to monitor and manage the …

Open data is becoming increasingly available all over the world. How will this trend affect the geospatial business? ‘GIM International’ has asked experts from some of the sector’s most influential companies for their opinions. How do Leica Geosystems, Trimble, Esri, Topcon and Bentley view the shift towards open geospatial data? Is it a blessing or is there reason for caution …

Airways’ latest Drone Tracker Survey is out – providing a detailed snapshot of where the drone industry in New Zealand is at and what are the key issues for users. So what are the implications for the future of the technology? And what industries stand to benefit the most from more drones in the sky? The report surveyed 1,442 drone …

Hong Kong venture capital fund Beyond Ventures has joined with Linear Capital of Shanghai to lead a US$9 million investment that will benefit forestry in national parks and other natural resources all over the world. They are funding Insight Robotics, which pursues a mission to facilitate risk management of the world’s assets by generating and making sense of data. Other …

Forest managers will be able to gauge the likely effect of climate change on growing conditions in their specific areas with a new interactive online tool developed by the CSIRO with funding from Forest & Wood Products Australia. The free Forest Climate Risk Tool provides information on factors such as the likely periods of drought, rainfall, number of heatwave days, …