GIS and Satellite Image Technology in Forest and Urban Forest Detection and Monitoring

Dear Colleagues,

Forests are essential components of green infrastructure. Their health affects environmental quality in many ways, and the opposite is also true. The services they provide are recognized as key in tackling climate change effects at local and global scales. Furthermore, the several ecosystems that benefit from their presence are both natural and anthropogenic. Accordingly, recent international regulations and actions are committed to drawing and fostering good management practices, leading to more sustainable and effective approaches to natural resources’ conservation and use. However, forests are increasingly threatened by natural and anthropic hazards: fires, heat and drought, new pests and diseases, deforestation, dereliction and decay. Hence, it appears that forests and urban forest management require increasingly adaptive and responsive tools and strategies. Remote sensing/Earth observation (RS/EO) and GIS could be strategic to address this issue. RS/EO technologies provide a whole series of information that gives access to the mapping and multi-temporal analysis of the spectral behavior of tree species. Specific vegetation indexes can give insights into forest health status and complement future scenario elaborations. On the other hand, GIS-based technologies can add and implement the current knowledge with either spatial or multi-criteria analysis of the many variables influencing tree communities. Eventually, improvements in statistical correlations between remotely sensed and ground data have the potential to improve the quality and reliability of available information, especially for high-risk and difficult-to-reach areas.

This Special Issue aims to garner state-of-the-art RS/EO-based and GIS-based knowledge concerning forests’ and urban forests’ monitoring and management. Additionally, artificial intelligence and machine learning applications deriving useful empirical scenarios to reduce the effects of climate change are encouraged.

Dr. Michaela De Giglio
Prof. Dr. Maurizio Barbarella
Guest Editors

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