3D Forests Show the Way for Sustainable Future

State-of-the-art GIS technology which can create highly detailed 3D maps of entire forests is set to overhaul Australia’s $2.5 billion forestry industry, according to one of the nation’s leading spatial professionals.

The technology, from location intelligence specialists Esri Australia, was on display at SilviLaser 2011, an annual showcase of LiDAR, or light detection and ranging, technology and its applications in forestry.

Esri Australia Senior Consultant Gordon Sumerling, who presented on LiDAR at Ozri 2011 last week, said new advances in GIS technology would ensure Australia’s commercial forests remain sustainable and renewable, and are managed in line with the world's highest environmental standards.

“Forestry is a vital industry in Australia, which has a total forested area of around 150 million hectares – which covers around 21% of our continent,” Mr Sumerling said.

“GIS, when combined with traditional technologies such as LiDAR, can vastly improve critical industry tasks such as assessing forest health, calculating biomass, and identifying drainage patterns and terrain types.

“The 3D maps generated by GIS can enable users to see intricate forest detail such as where and how dense various canopy layers are, and the characteristics of ground level biomass.

“The images also provide a detailed view of topographical changes, which will save an enormous amount of time in terms of hauling loads and positioning machinery.

“This level of insight will be critical in the ongoing sustainable management of our forests.”

LIDAR uses light beams fired from a plane to measure tree and canopy height and terrain.

Mr Sumerling said the Esri Australia’s GIS technology – particularly the soon-to-be-released ArcGIS 10.1 software – transformed raw LiDAR data into 3D maps of the landscape that provided significantly more detail than traditional aerial photographs.

“Aerial photographs only provide views of the actual tree tops, whereas LiDAR can penetrate those and other layers down to the forest floor,” Mr Sumerling said.

“However, in the past LiDAR could only produce simple, 2D images that were mostly useful only to highly trained technicians.

“GIS technology combines multiple 2D LiDAR images and creates highly detailed 3D maps that provide an extremely accurate picture of what forests actually look like – right down to the level of rocks and shrubs on the forest floor.

“This allows non-technical users to get an understanding of the forest floor and tree and canopy heights over vast areas, streamlining decision-making processes while also making them more accurate and informed.”

Mr Sumerling said SilviLaser 2011 was the first time the ArcGIS 10.1 LiDAR applications had been exhibited to Australia’s forestry industry.

“Senior forestry figures have been genuinely amazed by the 3D maps this technology is producing and how it has transformed relatively indecipherable raw data,” Mr Sumerling said.

“They can see the potential this technology has in the industry to revolutionise critical forestry management activities such as biodiversity, fertilisation, harvesting, cultural heritage and development.”

“It’s a very exciting time for Australia’s forestry industry.”

About Esri Australia
Esri Australia has a 33 year history of providing location intelligence and data mapping solutions that help organisations make smart business decisions. The combination of local expertise and world-leading Esri GIS technology has helped thousands of government departments and commercial organisations to turn their data, information and knowledge into collective insight to reveal opportunity.  
About GIS


Geographic Information Systems are a key piece of technology used in thousands of organisations Australia-wide from the military and government, to the insurance and mining sector. Australia’s GIS industry currently stands at over $2.1 billion and morethan 300,000 organisations across the world use Esri GIS.

Trimble Outdoors Launches Backpacker Map Maker App for iPad

Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) and Backpacker magazine released Backpacker Map Maker, a mapping and trip planning app for the Apple iPad. Now, from the touch-screen of an iPad, hikers and backpackers can find wild places, plot GPS points and plan their next adventure over seamless topographical maps.

"Our readers absolutely love maps. As avid backcountry explorers and GPS users, they like to view, create and annotate their topos, and with Map Maker, they can now harness the beauty and power of their tablets to experience maps in an extraordinary and dynamic way," said Jonathan Dorn, editor-in-chief of Backpacker, and vice president, AIM Outdoor Group. "Map Maker is a portable, practical tool for hikers, a great way to relive their adventures, and the perfect complement to GPS Trails, our smartphone navigation app for in-the-field use."

Backpacker Map Maker begins with best-in-class maps for hikers in the U.S. and Canada. In addition to aerial, hybrid, street and terrain maps, the app provides access to more than 68,000 USGS topo maps stitched together and enhanced by MyTopo. The app has a full-line of other features for the hiker, including:

Place search: Find popular peaks, campgrounds, trailheads, mountain passes, creeks, lakes and more from a list of more than 10 million places.

Dual maps: Turn on dual map mode and view two map types at once for more precise trip planning. For instance, view street maps to find access roads to the trailhead then fade to topo maps to check out the detailed topography.

Cloud-based trips: Save trips to a backpacker.com account and access them from anywhere with an Internet connection. Hikers can also plan trips in Map Maker and then open and navigate in the Backpacker GPS Trails app, an in-field navigation app for iPhone and Android.

Mark waypoints: Simply drag-and-drop GPS waypoints onto the map. Add notes too.

Ruler tool: Measure how far it is from the trailhead to your campsite to a mountain summit and beyond.

Digital compass: See a full-screen translucent compass overlaid on the maps.

GPS coordinates: Display latitude/longitude coordinates in three formats: DD, DDM and DMS. Or, view coordinates in UTM, the metric-based coordinate system preferred by the U.S. military and Backpacker editors. Backpacker publishes trail-based coordinates for nearly every destination article in the magazine.

"We are excited to add an iPad product to the successful line of Backpacker outdoor adventure apps. Backpacker readers can surf gorgeous topos and plan out trips in any park or wilderness in the U.S. and Canada, and then carry that trip with them using GPS Trails on their iPhone or Android smartphone," said Rich Rudow, general manager for Trimble Outdoors.

Backpacker Map Maker for the Apple iPad and iPad2 is available for download now from the Apple App Store at: www.backpacker.com/mapmaker.

About Backpacker

Backpacker brings the outdoors to readers' doorsteps, inspiring and empowering them to get out and enjoy nature more often. The authority on active adventure, Backpacker is the world's first GPS-enabled magazine, and the only magazine whose editors personally test the hiking trails, camping gear, and survival tips they publish. Backpacker is published by Active Interest Media (www.aimmedia.com), has a circulation of 340,000, and is published nine times per year. www.Backpacker.com.

About Trimble Outdoors

Trimble Outdoors, a Trimble business, develops GPS-enabled mobile apps and map solutions for fitness and outdoor enthusiasts. Its popular apps—Trimble Outdoors™, AllSport GPS™, Geocache Navigator™, Cabela's Recon™ Hunt, and Backpacker GPS Trails—run on more than 300 mobile devices worldwide and help consumers navigate on trails and off-road, track fitness workouts, find caches and more. Trimble Outdoors is also a leading provider of print and digital maps for hikers, hunters, and campers via the MyTopo brand. By leveraging Trimble's 30 years of commercial expertise in GPS, software, and communications, Trimble Outdoors delivers cost-effective and convenient position-based services that promote consumers' well-being, security and active lifestyles. For more information about Trimble Outdoors, visitwww.TrimbleOutdoors.com.

About Trimble

Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.