A map in the app "hooldusR" indicates the necessity of pre-commercial thinning in young forests

Timely cleaning and  pre-commercial thinning in young forests are the means to grow a profitable future forest. Tartu Observatory used airborne lidar data to
constructed a map showing the hotspots of necessity for young forest maintenance. Initially, the forest map prototype covers Southeast Estonia.

The map is delivered to forest owners by a smartphone app, hooldusR, which displays in red the young forest stands where the owner should go to first in order to evaluate the state of forest stands in situ. HooldusR recommendations are based on lidar data collected from the aircraft. The prediction model searches for young forest stands that are already critically dense for the stand current height, and tree mortality is increasing rapidly.

Improvements of the model can be implemented in next versions by using user feedback about the map accuracy and the application´s functionality.  Also, hooldusR developers are planning to provide the map for the whole of Estonia.

You can read more about the working principles of the application in the online publication Sinu Mets page 12. (in Estonian)

Download the Southeast Estonia forest map from the Google Play Store and try it out! The map and app are both free and without
cost for users, there is no user account or registration required.

We are waiting for user feedback on the map application: mait.lang@ut.ee

The application creators are Mait Lang, Jan-Peter George and Oleksandr Borysenko.