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GIS & GPS for the Non-Industrial Private Forest Landowner
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NIPF Concerns
• Long-term productivity of forest land• Accurate inventories of forest resources• Compliance with forest regulation• Road maintenance & abandonment plans• Property & harvest unit layout
• Nearly all goals of NIPF requiredetailed knowledge of ground conditions
• Accurate maps & inventory• Forest resources/stands/property boundary• Roads• Streams
GIS & GPS for the Non-Industrial Private Forest Landowner
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Why is GIS different from paper maps?• Uses the analytical power of the computer to complete
complex tasks which would be impossible using paper maps. • Uses the computer's storage power to manage large and
complex data sets. • Allows the integration of many different types of data from
many different sources (maps, tabular data, aerial photos, elevation models, satellite imagery, CAD data, etc.) within a single storage, management, and analysis environment.
• Maps a variety of different data to the same coordinate space, which allows for the analysis of the combination of different themes (e.g., slope, windthrow hazard, and forest age).
• Digital data are more stable than paper media, easier to copy, and easier to distribute. Many web sites exist that distribute digital geospatial data.
GIS & GPS for the Non-Industrial Private Forest Landowner
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Why is GIS different from paper maps? (continued)
• Digitally created maps are more easily updated than paper maps. • GIS makes it easy to reproduce maps. A single digital map file
can be printed at will and multiple times. • Allows the creation and use of "one-time" maps (whereas paper
maps generally need to be printed and sold by the thousands to recapture the cost of production). For example, a map can be prepared with GIS specifically for a public presentation; the map may never be used after that presentation.
• Allows individual users to tailor their map displays for their own purposes, rather than having to settle for a general-purpose paper map.
• Eliminates some user bias (the computer repeats measurement and analytical processes identically, whereas people often repeat processes with random or systematic errors).
• Brings new tools for thinking differently about geographic data.
GIS & GPS for the Non-Industrial Private Forest Landowner
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What can GIS do for the NIPF?
• Create maps of your forest• Calculate acreage of forest stands• Calculate length of streams and roads• Generate regulatory buffers around streams and
wetlands, … and• Calculate potential loss of harvestable lands• Aid in road design• Aid in sampling and inventory schemes• Provide input data for forest analysis software (e.g.,
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How can GPS support the NIPF?
• Harvest unit layout• Obtain boundaries in the field for mapping• Inventory plot layout and relocation• Significantly speed up any surveying or navigation
mission• Potentially increase the accuracy & precision of a survey