| Forestry Commission: Nurturing Our Forest and Woodland Areas
By Catherine Cooke With over five million acres of forestry in Great Britain, the importance of the decision to evaluate and implement GIS and Digital Map Production Systems throughout the Forestry Commission was not to be underestimated. However, considering the substantial benefits of digital cartography, it was identified as a vital and cost-effective investment. A time for change
Great Britain's Forestry Commission recognized the need to computerise their mapping techniques for use in both the Forestry Authority and Forest Enterprise arms of the organization. In recent years, streamlining of the Commission had resulted in the state owned forests being managed by the newly formed Forest Enterprise, leaving the Forestry Authority free to work for the good of Great Britain's trees, through forestry research and by regulating and monitoring standards over the whole of the forestry industry.
Forest Enterprise was considering enhancing their mapping capabilities, focusing specifically on stock management (keeping track of trees) while the Forestry Authority was concerned with constraints mapping (keeping track of where grants or felling licences have been issued, areas of restricted access, wildlife conservation areas and privately managed forests) requirements. The data capture demand for both projects was considerable and it was clear that a highly integrated data capture product would be essential. It was also recognized that the chosen solution would need to be truly flexible and fully integrable if it was to be implemented throughout the organization.
In August 1991, the Forestry Commission began investigating GIS and mapping systems. Through their own cartographic expertise, they knew the capabilities of such systems. Several potential vendors were selected to demonstrate their products but it soon became apparent that Laser-Scan's solution was emerging as the system that best matched their requirement. VTRAK, Laser-Scan's data capture tool, provides on-screen digitizing. The cartographic editing and display capabilities offered by LAMPS and the means of linking the map base to their corporate ORACLE database were other factors that figured in the decision to purchase the Laser-Scan solution. Tried and tested
Pilot projects were launched to evaluate the solution. Forest Enterprise applied the software to stock mapping, while the Forestry Authority applied it to constraints mapping. Their principal objectives were to improve management information, provide faster updating of map base information and obtain greater output flexibility, while introducing a more cost-effective method of cartography. Forest Enterprise also saw benefits from a corporate approach to asset management, the flexibility to produce customized maps and the provision of a common standard to map production.
One of the main objectives of digital mapping was to provide a stepping stone into GIS. The availability of digital data captured for mapping purposes would greatly ease any future move in that direction. The Laser-Scan solution
VTRAK was selected to perform the digitizing in order to create quality structured data rapidly. LAMPS was the solution to map production in a fully digital form and the Horizon GIS, designed to address issues of resource management, monitoring and environmental protection, the powerful tool for analysis.
The digital mapping solution enabled the capture of complex data in a fraction of the time and costs associated with manual methods. It was also apparent that it was an economical solution for them to capture existing map data on a national basis, while ensuring protection of their past investment in high quality mapping. Branching out
In record breaking time, the objectives were successfully achieved at the pilot stage and the results were so significant that the digital mapping solution is now being applied on a national scale. The pilot study was achieved in only nine months of an estimated two year time frame.
The magnitude of this decision can only be appreciated when the enormous responsibility held by the Forestry Authority and Forest Enterprise is considered.
Multi-purpose forestry is of prime importance within Great Britain's government forestry policy. The managing of forests for recreation, wildlife, landscape and conservation, as well as for timber production is, as a result, at the heart of Forest Enterprise management strategy. Forests of high environmental quality famous for their landscape, their botanical interest or of unique cultural value - for instance, the New Forest and the Forest of Dean - are all managed by Forest Enterprise.
The responsibility of Forest Enterprise is also extended to the stewardship of several hundred sites of special scientific interest and forest nature reserves and their public access policy offers us the freedom to roam throughout and enjoy these woodlands, subject only to safety considerations, conservation or legal constraints. Income generated from wood production and the forestry skills of the Enterprise to maintain and where appropriate increase the productive potential of the forest estate, makes all this possible.
The Forestry Authority works with the public's interests at heart, ensuring that trees, woodlands and forests in Great Britain are protected, managed and promoted. Its work with farmers, private landowners, local authorities and other public owners, environment and countryside bodies is extensive and of fundamental importance socially, environmentally and economically. The creation of new woodlands is encouraged for a multitude of purposes. During expansion of forest areas, natural and cultural heritage is protected while bringing sustainable economic benefits by guaranteeing long-term stable supplies of timber to sawmills, pulpmills and other wood-using industries.
The digital mapping system is currently fully functional at headquarters and eight regional offices, three within the Authority and five within the Enterprise.
The Forestry Authority uses ordnance survey 1:25,000 raster backdrop as a base for constraint and record mapping, overlaying details of grant aided woodlands and constraints such as SSSI's etc. Horizon is due to be utilized at regional level linking the constraints and record maps to an existing Oracle based Woodland Grant Scheme (WGS) database. Under consideration is landscape design visualizations and various environmental and research applications.
At headquarters, an inventory of woodland is conducted using LAMPS to carry out a statistical sampling exercise of all woodlands. The resulting sample maps then form the basis for field surveys. The data captured in the field is fed back into a central Oracle database which in time will be linked back to the sample and woodland cover maps within Horizon.
Using an ordnance survey 1:10,000 raster backdrop, the Forest Enterprise overlay management boundary information for all the state forest areas within Great Britain, resulting in the creation of a digital map database of the million hectares of Commission land.
Aware of the capability of GIS to accommodate the increasing demands of numerous business applications, the Forestry Commission has also purchased Laser-Scan's radio planning tool, Telecomms Analysis. Built on Gothic, Laser-Scan's Object-Oriented (OO) Applications Development Environment (ADE), Telecomms Analysis is used by the Forestry Commission to design and maintain their private mobile radio network (PMR). The powerful GIS application minimizes interference, which is of major importance given the explosive growth of communication traffic, and offers maximum system performance for their radio coverage.
By using Telecomms Analysis, the Forestry Commission can now ensure reliable communications are maintained, for example between forestry rangers and base (an essential safety requirement). The Forestry Commission also needs to plan effective communications for possible emergencies such as forest fires. Return on Investment
Consider for a moment the Commission's complex processes for map production, from the collection of data, design, preparation of the contents, to production of a master copy, ready for printing. Then consider the various overlapping and ever changing projects requiring tight control and efficient management that the Forestry Authority and Forest Enterprise must be able to track. With the Commission's single integrated system solution, the cost and loss of time involved in reproducing detailed analogue maps by traditional methods is virtually eliminated. The flexibility of the system enables the input of data from a wide variety of sources and methods.
The hybrid raster/vector technology provided by the digital mapping system solution has enabled the Forestry Authority and Forest Enterprise to make the most cost-effective choice of data conversion, vectorizing where necessary and using raster maps where they suffice. This has made a significant contribution to containing overall project costs and provided the Commission with a substantial return on their investment.
By implementing the digital mapping system, the Forestry Commission has achieved an effective and economic solution to a wide range of business and regulatory needs in an aggressive time scale. About the Author:
Catherine Cooke is a marketing executive with Laser-Scan Ltd. She may be reached at +44 (0) 223 420414. Back |
