Revolutionizing Forest
Monitoring and Management
in Canada
Natural Resources Canada Report
T
o d a y, n e a r l y e v e r y
industry, service sector,
and other area of activity
is well into a “data revolution.”
The ways data are being collected,
channelled, and applied are profoundly affecting how ever yone, from
individuals to governments and
businesses, gets information and uses
it. Technologies that once rested in the
realm of science fiction – like satellite
data instantaneously beamed to Earth,
mapped and ready to read on hand-
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held phones and dashboard displays
– are now mainstream.
Canada’s forest sector is tak ing
advantage of these radical developments and contributing its own
innovations.
With new remote -sensing technologies, massive amounts of data
are being collected more quickly and
consistently than ever before imagined.
Sophisticated sensors mounted on
satellites, planes, helicopters, and even
drones have made data collection over
Canada’s vast and dynamic forests not
I N D U S T R Y U P D AT E
only more efficient and cost-effective,
but more comprehensive. In turn,
equally innovative processing and
analysis technologies are transforming
these data into highly detailed maps,
images, and other forms of visual
display.
In the Information Age, this
technology-fuelled data revolution has
also made it easier for everyone – not
just foresters, scientists and technicians
– to watch over Canada’s forests. That’s
a good thing. More information, backed
with on-the-ground knowledge, helps