New Zealand Journal of Forestry (2016) 60(4): 25–28
©New Zealand Institute of Forestry

Feature article
The internet of things for forestry: new concepts, new opportunities

Barbara Hock ^*,1, Marie Heaphy ², Melissa Evans ³, Andrew Dunningham ⁴ and Bryan Graham <sup>5

1</sup> Senior Scientist, Forest Industry Informatics (FII) team, Scion specialising in geospatial analysis and visualisation. barbara.hock@scionresearch.com
² Scientist, FII team specialising in geomatics and UAV and remote sensing operations
³ Business Analyst, FII team
⁴ Scientist, FII team specialising in geomatics, remote sensing and innovation
⁵ Science Leader, FII and specialises in business analysis
^*Corresponding author.

Abstract: The concept of an internet of things (IoT) has been around for a while, and this review presents the current picture of the IoT and also its potential application to the forestry industry. Value from the IoT is being generated among businesses in many industries by establishing inexpensive sensor networks that efficiently collect large quantities of data and integrating these with dataanalysis capability to provide improved inputs for more precise decision-making. The IoT is also being used for asset optimisation such as plant, machines and vehicles supporting proactive maintenance, capacity planning and safer operating environments. Many applications in other sectors are immediately transferable to the forest sector, with sensors and networks being used to optimise agricultural land uses and generate supply-chain efficiencies.
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