Pilots
Pilots
During the development project (2015-2018), two extensive pilots were conducted: one in Mexico on the subject of carbon monitoring for climate change reporting, and another in Finland on the subject of operational forest management. More precisely, the Mexican pilot concerns mapping of forest cover and forest cover change in the states of Chiapas and Durango in Mexico, whereas the Finnish pilot concerns mapping of harmful broadleaved shrubs in forest regeneration areas.
Both pilot activities have been successfully completed. The pilot work was performed by the project coordinator VTT in cooperation with the pilot partners. The Finnish pilot on shrub mapping has given ground to operational use by the Finnish Forestry Centre.

Pilot 1 - Mapping forest cover and its change in Mexico, states of Chiapas and Durango
Pilot 2 - Mapping of harmful broadleaved shrubs on regeneration areas, Finland
Area | 73,311 km2 (Chiapas) and 123,317 km2 (Durango) |
---|---|
Key satellite data | ESA Sentinel-1 data (SAR), ESA Sentinel-2 (optical, over one state) |
Reference data | 1: Durango university ground sample network 2: Data (crowdsourcing) from ESA EducEO pilot 3: NFI plots from Chiapas (optionally) |
Key users | Ministry of Environment and Natural History of the state government of Chiapas University of Durango Several Mexican NGO’s |
Pilot 2 - Mapping of harmful broadleaved shrubs on regeneration areas, Finland
Area | 338,424 km² (TBD according to user preferences) |
---|---|
Key activity | Mapping degree of shrub damage on regeneration areas for decision support in forest management |
Key satellite data | ESA Sentinel-2 data (optical) |
Reference data | 1: Finnish Forestry Centre’s stand database 2: Data collected by the Forestry Centre during standard field work |
Key users | Finnish Forest Centre (part of Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) |