ABSTRACT
While advanced technologies such as satellite imagery, airborne laser scanning, or terrestrial laser scanning can be used for forest inventory estimation, management, and planning; on-site manual sampling measurements are still required to calibrate and to validate the underlying assumptions and models used by these technologies to derive inventory-relevant parameters. In the province of Quebec, Canada, the typical forest management inventory provides stand level data and maps from an interpretation of aerial photography. Field sampling must be conducted to supplement this inventory and validate the aerial photography interpretation. We have developed a cost-effective and efficient tool that supports the reliable on-site sampling of dendro-metric data, its validation, and its timely transfer to, and merging with the provincial forest inventory database.
