Free-Open Access Geospatial Data and Tools for Forest Resources Management

This chapter presents a description of the various data and techniques used by open-source geospatial foundations (OSGeo) to gather geo specific knowledge and forestry ecosystem services. Remote sensing plays a key role in the estimation of forest parameters and in the detection and reconfiguration of forest cover. The new management of the forest strengthens geospatial tools, approaches and inventions. Crowdsourcing modes range from the collection of data passively passed on to large groups on the web to the active participation of the crowd in the production of data via special mobile apps and web platforms. We searched the Google Scholar and the Science Web for peer-reviewed articles using a combination of the terminology crowd sourcing, social media, volunteered geographical knowledge and landscape and perception, interest and ecosystem resources in forestry to provide an overview of current crowding for the collection of earth observation. For this analysis, the application focus studies either describe active open access geospatial data or research projects using actively crowded geo-information. System-focused research—the second group—offered the framework for addressing participants’ participation in relevant forestry applications. The use of open-source geospatial data and software to collect real-time, locational data to explain forestry application and forestry management is also promising. Actionary open source geospatial technologies and data face a number of challenges: the involvement of adequate participants and sample representatives in order to ensure the utility of the outcome from an approach to public policy—e.g. through access to technology and/or a specific interest in nature—must be discussed more specifically.