Woodstock
General System description
System Name: Woodstock, Spatial Woodstock & Stanley
Brief overview
A commercial (COTS) software suite for developing and analysing detailed, long-term spatial forest management plans.
Contents
Scope of the system
Woodstock is the flagship of a suite of forest modeling software from Remsoft for performing a wide variety of strategic analyses. Remsoft's Spatial Planning System is based on an iterative, hierarchical approach - starting with a forest level or strategic management plan and moving to a stand level or tactical plan. The suite is commonly used for harvest schedules, wood supply analyses, wildlife management plans, and forest ecosystems simulations. The basis of Woodstock is a modeling language that allows the user to describe the forest and actions operating on it in terms most appropriate to the modeling exercise. The suite of products consists of:
- Spatial Woodstock: a spatial data management and analysis tool and extension to Woodstock that spatially represents your model.
- Stanley: takes Woodstock results, which have been verified using Spatial Woodstock, and automatically creates and schedules harvest blocks or units.
- Allocation Optimizer: lets you consider all your allocation options – products, destinations and transportation variables – in the context of an overall forest management strategy.
System origin
???
Support for specific issues
- Trade-off methods
- Landscape planning
Support for specific thematic areas of a problem type
- Silvicultural
- Certification
- Conservation
- Development choices / land use zoning
- Policy /intervention alternatives
- User defined
Capability to support decision making phases
[Intelligence, Design, Choice, Monitoring [1]]
Woodstock generally supports the design and choice phases of decision making, by assisting users in creating and evaluating alternative solutions.
Related systems
For optimization, an separate LP solver is needed. Woodstock is compatible with a number of systems.[2]
Data and data models
Typical spatial extent of application
- User defined
- Regional
- Multi-owner forest
- Single-owner forest
- Site
Application is particularly suitable for any landbase of 10,000 ha or larger.
Forest data input
Users input information related to six major themes:
- Landscape themes: a set of related attributes for classifying forest areas using either stratum-based or area-based themes (similar to GIS layers)
- Development types: unique combinations of landscape themes which represent the basic forest management units
- Actions: management interventions or natural events and their effects on the state of the forest
- Transitions: the effect an action has in changing one development type to another
- Yield components: indicators of the state of the forest (timber yield, sediment yield, treatment cost, etc.); these can be either age or time dependent
- Outputs: quantities to be reported or controlled by the model; triggered by actions and a function of the area, yield components, and development type treated.
Type of information input from user (via GUI)
The GUI facilitates the inputs of the above information types.
Models
Forest models
Woodstock projects potential outputs using either simulation, binary search, or linear programming optimization. These systems do not include any biophysical models, rather they use outputs from such models or forest inventories to schedule management actions.
Social models
Decision Support
Definition of management interventions
[Define what is available for the manager to intervene in the forest: time of harvest, plantations, thinnings, reconversions...Existence of prescription writer, simple enumeration of all possibilities, scenario simulation , etc.]
Typical temporal scale of application
[Define the temporal scale of the application: E.g., operational and immediate level, Tactical planning (short term) and strategic level.]
Types of decisions supported
Decision-making processes and models
- Simulation
- Optimization
Including MIP, Goal-programming, area based modeling, Monte-Carlo simulation and others.
Output
Types of outputs
Spatial analysis capabilities
Abilities to address interdisciplinary, multi-scaled, and political issues
Produces coordinated results for decision makers at different scales: Implement forest plans from the forest down to the polygon level.
Facilitates social negotiation / learning: Commonly used for public communication, meetings, etc.
System
System requirements
At a minimum, Woodstock requires a computer running Windows with a 450MHz Pentium processor, 128MB of memory/RAM, 20MB of hard disk space (not including space for data files) and a USB Port (required for the hardware key). We recommend running Woodstock on a Windows 2000 or XP PC with a 800MHz or higher Pentium 4 processor with at least 512MB of memory/RAM. This configuration is suitable for Spatial Woodstock, as well as other mainstream applications that analysts are likely to use in conjunction with Spatial Woodstock (e.g. Microsoft Windows® applications, desktop mapping, database management systems, et cetera).[3]
Architecture and major DSS components
[Describe the basic architecture of the system in software and hardware. Desktop client-server, web based, as well as the integration with available systems. Basic data flow, focusing on retrieval of required input and propagation and implementations of decisions. Mention its modular and scalability capabilities.]
Usage
Used extensively by larger private forest management companies, and a number of state/provincial and federal governments. Company website claims that over 500-million acres of forestland on five continents managed using Remsoft software.
Computational limitations
[Describe the system limitations: e.g. number of management units, number of vehicles, time horizon.]
User interface
User interface quality: High quality user interface
Complexity of system / user interface: Depends on level and complexity of modeling problem to be addressed
Documentation and support
Documentation: Complete user guides ship with the software
Support: Online user's group & support documents, monthly newsletter. Optional annual support and upgrades program for Woodstock, Spatial Woodstock and Stanley.
Training: Remsoft offers a number of customized training options that can be carried out either at Remsoft offices or your own premises. Typically three days in length, these are workshop-style classes that encourage hands-on participation.
Installation
Prerequisite knowledge needed: Forest modeling background and a good understanding of forest dynamics.
Cost: > $3000
Demo:
References
Cited references
- ↑ http://fp0804.emu.ee/wiki/index.php/Simon%27s_decision_making_model
- ↑ http://www.remsoft.com/docs/products/Solver%20Software%20Information.pdf
- ↑ http://www.remsoft.com/products.php?id=1
