LVM expands use of drones in forest monitoring

Forest infrastructure specialists from Latvia’s State Forests (LVM) are expanding their use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, in everyday operations. In total, the company uses more than 170 drones in various departments and appreciates the benefits and support they provide, for example, in monitoring large nests, collecting forest inventory data, planning forestry works and more. Last summer, drones played an invaluable role in monitoring storm damage.

When undertaking forest road construction works, forest infrastructure specialists can use drones to check the compliance of forest infrastructure components built in the countryside with their construction plans. Before now, the most useful tools were a tape measure, laser distance measurer and mathematical knowledge on bisectors and other rules of geometry.

“Thanks to drones, we can fly the route of a new road and photograph it before signing off on construction work. Afterwards, we process the pictures to create an orthophoto map, which we can use to measure parts of the road: the radius of sideroad connections, the length of culverts, road width and more. It also enables us to complete a walkthrough of the road within the 3D model,” explains Jānis Buņķis, Head of Forest Infrastructure Planning at LVM.

In its everyday operations, LVM uses 170 drones across 8 different departments, from Forestry — the first department to use drones — to the latest drone users: Forest Infrastructure and Real Estate Management.

LVM’s Head of Drones Kārlis Linde explains that the main benefits of using drones are the opportunity to monitor territory and make decisions on works remotely, as the employees themselves do not have to enter the territory, as well as time and physical energy savings.

Source: Press release (www.labsoflatvia.com)
Photo: Shutterstock