At the present time, landscape inventories, the third National Forest Inventory (NFI), permanent research plots in the forests, cantonal inventories, regional forest planning, the redefinition of useful farm land, a new inventory of standard tree orchards but also the protection of peat bog and alluvial areas are daily business. Therefore, the development of a software for automated aerial photograph analysis is of greatest interest to the Swiss Confederation and its cantons as well as to forest owners, research institutes and certain industries (private engineering enterprises, software producers).
In answer to these expectations, the Antenne Romande WSL, together with the Institute of Production in Microengineering of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), proposes to develop a software for user-friendly, neutral and rapid image-processing, the working precision of which will suit forest and landscape managers. Moreover, the software will provide scientists with basic data for the modelling of various ecosystem processes.