Silva numerica, virtual forest environment

Description

Silva numerica is a virtual reality forestry project that aims to facilitate sustainable forest planning and management using virtual reality technologies. It allows users to visualise forests in an immersive way and to simulate different management scenarios to study their impact on forests in the long term. The project was developed to help forest managers, planners and researchers understand forest dynamics and make informed decisions about sustainable forest management. As an experiment in professional forest management training, Silva numérica has demonstrated its relevance. In this context, it offers a detailed and enriched vision of the learners’ future working environment and facilitates their learning by allowing the modelling of their actions and their impact over time.

Silva numerica users can use virtual reality headsets to immerse themselves in 3D visualisations of real forests and simulate different management scenarios, such as timber harvesting, forest restoration, forest fires, etc. Users can also visualise the results of these scenarios on biodiversity, carbon storage, water quality and other sustainability indicators. Users can also visualise the results of these scenarios on biodiversity, carbon storage, water quality and other sustainability indicators.

Silva numerica uses real data to create realistic models of forests. Users can use field data, such as measurements of tree density, tree height, species composition, to create accurate visualisations of forests. It also allows scenarios to be simulated over longer periods of time, enabling analysis of forest evolution.

In summary, Silva numerica is a tool for forest managers, planners, researchers and students of forest management who want to understand forest dynamics and make informed decisions about sustainable forest management. The tool allows immersive visualization of forests, simulation of different management scenarios and study of their long-term impact on forests.

Points of interest

• Allows immersive visualisation of forests to facilitate understanding of forest dynamics;
• Allows the simulation of different management scenarios to study their long-term impact on forests;
• Provides decision support to forest managers for sustainable forest management
  Uses real data to create realistic models

Points of vigilance

• While the tool can be used on a conventional screen, it only comes into its own with virtual reality equipment which can be expensive and difficult to use for some users;
• Can be limited by the quality and accuracy of the data used to create the models.