DEVELOPMENT OF A FOREST ROAD LOCATION PROCEDURE AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF A MAP BASED INFORMATION SYSTEM (GRAPHICS, OPTIMIZATION)

The high costs of forest road construction, maintenance, and timber transportation warrant extensive planning of forest road network layout and transportation scheduling. The integration of these efforts in the overall management decision making process will result in more efficient timber harvesting operations.;A forest road network location procedure was developed using both the spacial and descriptive data bases of an existing map based information system. The objective is the optimal location of a road network in areas not yet serviced by existing roads, constrained by a user-defined maximum service zone width. A local search algorithm was designed, producing optimal or near-optimal solutions in all cases examined.;The location procedure gives the user flexibility in defining the area under investigation and the access road configuration. Data transformation methodologies utilized by this procedure convert layered polygon map data of the MBIS into a grid format, which is better adapted for spatial and computational analysis.;Algorithm improvement, to enable the examination of larger areas, and data base expansion, to increase the precision of road construction cost determination, will further enhance the effectiveness of this forest management tool.;During the last decade, the use of computerized geographic information systems (GIS), also known as map based information systems (MBIS), for forest management has increased rapidly. The capability of these systems to facilitate the accessibility of diverse data allows for the inclusion of all essential information in management planning procedures.