It takes forest soil a long time to get well after being compacted by heavy logging gear. That’s why Roth has digitally mapped all of the logging trails and geared up tree harvesters with high-precision satellite tv for pc antennas so the machines can exactly comply with the identical route for many years and simply discover them within the chaotic aftermath of a storm. GPS information is used to file how a lot timber was extracted from which location—a vital improve in a forest with many various house owners.
A digital actuality: Since most of his work can now be completed on a cell machine, Roth is spending extra time outdoor: “I take the digital steps exterior on website, in opposition to the backdrop of actuality.”
His most up-to-date venture is combining physique digicam footage with AI. “[Usually] you mark the bushes, they’re felled, and you haven’t any concept how a lot timber you’ll find yourself with—what number of cubic meters, what high quality, which tree species,” he explains. Now AI, “wanting” by his physique digicam, routinely acknowledges the tree species he has marked and estimates the quantity of timber it is going to produce, sending the data to his cellphone in actual time.
Getting ready for the longer term: As much as half of European tree species are unsuited to rising temperatures and prolonged drought durations, so Roth has begun experimenting with new species, planting them in small batches and protecting monitor of them in his system. With a forest in flux, there are dozens of areas that want interventions at completely different instances, and there will not be sufficient workers to maintain all of it straight, he says: “Both I do know it, or the pc is aware of it, or nobody is aware of it and it’s misplaced.”
Roth’s experience in tackling the challenges of contemporary forestry with know-how is more and more wanted—colleagues attain out for recommendation, and he lectures on digitalization in forestry on the Rottenburg College of Utilized Forest Sciences. However he warns that know-how can by no means substitute a ramble by the forest: “I ought to by no means imagine that the digital twin is actuality. I at all times should do a actuality verify.”