ForestMap: The next generation of forest maps - adapting a Nordic success story across the globe

Purpose and goal:

The aim is to promote the societal values of forest use by using remote sensing, crowdsourcing and new AI methods to produce forest maps globally. In the project, a new flexible hierarchical decision-making system will be developed for efficient forest mapping using a large amount of different remote sensing data, where the hierarchical levels consist of remote sensing data at different resolutions. Crowdsourcing and modern AI methods will be used to develop the new hierarchical system.

Expected results and effects:

The project is expected to make a major contribution to mitigating climate change, strengthening biodiversity and other societal values, and creating new business models through the development of a new method for next-generation of forest maps. The project will further develop the Nordic success story of open forest map data globally by using innovative AI technology and integrated use of remote sensing and field data collection.

Approach and implementation: The project will be implemented in six work packages (WPs): WP1 - Project management and coordination (Linnaeus University (LNU) / SLU) WP2 - Field data collection and extraction of remote sensing data (LNU / SLU) WP3 - Hierarchical decision-making system for efficient forest mapping (Marmara University

and Istanbul Technical University) WP4 - Demonstration cases (Katam) WP5 - Societal values (University of Helsinki) WP6 - Dissemination and Communication (joint)