Frequently Asked Questions

ForestSense™ from ImageTree correlates relationships between what can be seen from the air and what can only be seen from the ground, — and ultimately provides you with a comprehensive view of your forest, down to every visible tree crown, so you can generate a greater NPV on a stand by stand basis.

1) How does ForestSense work?

ImageTree’s patented ForestSense inventory system includes:

Collecting images through remote sensing- LiDAR and Color Infrared
Defining stands by analyzing these images
Assessing every visible tree crown in the stands with software
Correlating tree crown images with random ground sampling
Extracting key forest inventory analysis data and combining it with biometric models to determine key inventory information like diameter breast height (dbh), species, grade, volume and trees per acre on a statistically sound basis.
Reporting forest data by acre, stand and/or property that is used to make the site-specific forest management decisions required for precision forestry.

2) How can information provided by ForestSense be used?

At the property level ForestSense provides data that would result from from traditional forest inventories, however, because it analyzes up to 80 percent of your trees, it provides you with a much more accurate and precise set of data with which to manage each of your stands—the management units of all forests. ForestSense also provides an accurate evaluation of carbon biomass, a critical measure when applying for managed forest carbon credits.

3) Why is ForestSense better than traditional forest inventory methods?

There are five advantages to ForestSense:

In one season you can update the forest inventory on an entire property for about what it costs to update only a fraction of that property with traditional methods.
ForestSense has a popular Change Management module that allows you to evaluate precise changes in your entire forest on an annual basis, (e.g., forest health trends on a stand basis, number of trees reduced through thinning, harvesting or theft, and it can quickly provide an estimate of damage from natural disasters.
Compared to traditional methods that usually can only afford to survey about one percent of all trees, ForestSense combines data from up to 80 percent of all trees such that its accuracy and precision are significantly more effective. This results in more precise growth model projections and more timely and effective thinning and harvesting decisions.
ForestSense can provide you with an effective estimate of biomass that would be eligible for carbon credits.
ForestSense provides the forester with a spatial representation combined with highly accurate and precise inventory data for each of his stands so that he can better use his forestry skills to proactively manage the forest.

4) How can ForestSense help my company be more profitable?

Forest asset managers can reduce their overall inventory costs by up to 25 percent because the ImageTree process reduces manual, labor-intensive inventory expenses. Because ForestSense is subject to much less sampling error than commonly found in traditional methods at the stand level, foresters can more effectively design thinning prescriptions and harvest plans which will result in a stronger NPV for your forest.

(ForesTech & the Warnell School of Forestry: The Value of Timber Inventory Information, B. E. Borders, W. M. Harrison, M.L. Clutter, B. D. Shiver and R.A. Souter.)

For more information, view the abstract for The Value of Timber Inventory Information, B. E. Borders, W. M. Harrison, M.L. Clutter, B. D. Shiver and R.A. Souter or download the complete report as a PDF.