ForestTECH News Issue 19 Summary

Welcome to this month’s issue of foresttech.news

The annual ForestTECH 2018 series is now in full swing. Last week in Rotorua we had a large contingent of resource managers and inventory foresters from throughout New Zealand involved in the two-day conference and four pre-conference workshops that ran for delegates.

This week, we have an excellent turnout of Australian and SE Asian forestry companies who’ll be meeting in Melbourne for the second leg of the series. We’ll be able to provide further details on some of the technology, trends in data capture and management and adoption and use by local forestry companies in upcoming issues.

In this month’s issue a couple of stories feature Europe’s largest aeronautics and space company, Airbus Defence and Space. It’s been a busy 3-4 weeks for them with several linkages set up in New Zealand.

The Centre for Space Science Technology, based in Alexandra, has just announced a partnership agreement, where it will become the primary provider of Airbus satellite data and products in New Zealand. Airbus is a prime contractor for over 70 Earth Observation satellites. Moving forward, the new arrangement is going to provide 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.

The country’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment also set up a new arrangement with Airbus to test and trial its Unmanned Aircraft (UA) technologies in New Zealand. The two will be working together to support the development and adoption of new and innovative space data technologies and applications. The letter of intent sets out amongst other things, a commitment to seek opportunities for Airbus to test and trial its UA technologies in New Zealand.

The other positive news for the Kiwis has been the announcement of NZ$19 million being put aside by the Government for increased LiDAR coverage across the country, moving towards a national database (a whole-of-country geo-spatial database) to assist with land use planning including forestry operations and management. This has been on the wish list for forestry companies, particularly smaller companies perhaps unable to afford LiDAR coverage, for a few years now.

We also have a number of stories from Australia and elsewhere to round off this month’s issue. Keep the stories coming. If interested in raising your brand awareness through advertising in the monthly newsletter, please make contact with gordon.thomson@fiea.org.nz.