GIS tool for optimization of forest harvest-scheduling

This article describes GIS tool (Optimal) for spatial and temporal optimization of forest harvests. Using Optimal, forest manager can create harvest units by editing polygons of forest stands in digital map. After the harvest units are created manually by the user, the adjacency matrix is automatically produced and passed to a solver module. The solver performs optimization using integer programming and returns spatial distribution of harvest units for each harvest period. User can set number of parameters, such as number and length of harvest periods, acceptable distances and areas of harvest units. The Optimal enables the forest managers to create and explore various scenarios and increase efficiency in forest harvest-scheduling.