Methods and workflows for creating area-wide products using remote sensing methods have been developed for various reasons. For the sample-based estimates in the Swiss National Forest Inventory (NFI), area-wide data sets are used for the two-phase estimations, which have substantially lower estimation errors than one-phase inventories. Using area-wide data sets, it is possible to skip dense manual interpretation of the stereo-images and thus save resources. Further, many functions of the forest, such as biodiversity and protection against natural hazards, can be described and quantified better with area-wide spatial data than with field plot data.