This year SFI-project has initiated procurement of Field-Map hard and software to be used in Ukraine for inventory purposes, particularly for NFI field data gathering. Specialised trainings were held in June-July 2023 and first steps of implementation during field data gathering undertaken. Significant challenges have been recognised, mainly related to database administration and data gathering productivity. On behalf of the project, Mr. Igor Buksha, Head of Laboratory of Forest Monitoring and Inventory of Ukrainian Research Institute of Forestry, experienced specialist in the use of Field-Map took temporary over some admin functions and supports Centre of National Forest Inventory (CNFI) until required capacities will be established there.
During a specialised meeting on this subject, 22.08.2023, Ukrainian and German inventory experts as well as representatives of Institute of Forest Ecology Research (IFER – provider of Field-Map) discussed options for successful implementation of Field-Map in Ukraine, among them
• an analyses of productivity gaps, training and corresponding online courses to cope with these gaps,
• automated transfer of NFI data, gathered so far, into Field-Map data base structure,
• developing specialised capacities at CNFI.
The teams of SFI Project experts and specialists of CNFI expressed their intention to consolidate efforts and to comprehensively prepare the use of Field-Map hardware for NFI data gathering as well as data quality controlling features in 2024.
