We have recently passed the 24 months (out of 48) mark of our project, and we are happy to share with you the summaries of our public-facing project deliverables that have been published by our consortium.
Important to note: all our public-facing deliverables are available on our website, in our “Resources” section, here
The PathFinder project aims to develop and demonstrate an innovative integrated forest monitoring and pathway assessment system that allows reporting to European and global policies and combines it with advanced forest management pathway assessment. The system starts with high-resolution mapping and precise estimation of forest attributes using a combination of field and remotely sensed data. This is done via a mapping and estimation platform for efficient monitoring of forest attributes including carbon stocks and biodiversity. This deliverable describes the initial plans on the technical implementation of the PathFinder platform and also highlights the main characteristics of the platform and discuss potential further development options for operational implementation of such a platform in the future.
The platform aims to facilitate effective integrated use of field data with remotely sensed and other datasets to produce precise forest information. The unique aspect of the PathFinder platform is that it enables combined use of the vast datasets of National Forest Inventories (NFIs) and remote sensing data, while preserving the privacy of field plot locations. Sample plot location privacy is not only a critical precondition for the credibility of permanent sample plots but may also be subjected to privacy legislation in some countries. The platform enables various estimation approaches and models to be used to provide European wide forest information with a spatial resolution down to 10 m annually. Thus, the system facilitates reporting for the upcoming Forest Monitoring Law (EC 2023) with statistically sound methods at various levels.
The Mapping and estimation component is the core of the PathFinder platform where the high-resolution maps are built as well as statistically sound estimates. It interlinks two key components: Map production (from Earth Observation and field data) and statistically sound estimation of target parameters in predefined geographical areas (complementing field data by auxiliaries in the form of wall-to-wall maps). This is one of the biggest strengths and most unique features for the PathFinder platform concept, providing consistent time series of forest estimates as well as the latest forest information maps.
Authors: VTT 🇫🇮, UHUL 🇫🇮, NIBIO 🇧🇻, and LUKE 🇫🇮
