Delivering historic environment data for woodland schemes
Project C: From the start of December 2021 to the end of March 2022 the Forestry Commission ran a project to assess how the Forestry Commission could use a Historic Environment Record GIS data extract to inform decisions on Woodland Creation Planning Grant (hereafter referred to as WCPG) applications in two pilot areas. The project was undertaken as part of The England Trees Action Plan action 4.6, which is exploring improving access to historic environment data to aid the faster assessment of woodland creation proposals. The project came about in recognition of an anticipated increase in WCPG applications in response to the Government’s ambitious plans for woodland creation and because of increased demands on Local Authority Historic Environment Services. The pilot proposed streamlining the data acquisition process by providing the Forestry Commission with local authority Historic Environment Record GIS data extracts that could be consulted at source, in comparison to the usual Stage 1 communication between the WCPG applicant and local authority. The two pilot areas were in Northumberland and Devon. In total, four new WCPG cases came forward during the pilot period.
Report available here
Project D: This commercial project report was written for the Forestry Commission and outlines ArchAI's approach to automatically detect ridge and furrow on LiDAR data using deep learning and to extract several additional parameters (eg. depth, width, period, aspect, slope) using traditional computer vision. The case study provided shows an area in Northumberland which was the testing ground for this initial experiment.
Report available here
Project E: Intended to gather insights from local historic environment services creating SHINE records. In 2022 the Forestry Commission secured funding for the next stage of their programme to deliver national historic environment datasets for woodland creation. The aim of this stage was to look at ways to make historic environment data more accessible to woodland proposers. The leading option to delivering this is currently the single national dataset known as SHINE. Although designed for agri-environment schemes there is potential for it to be adapted to also accommodate woodland schemes. Five local historic environment services participated in this phase.
Reports available below
Project F: An appraisal of the views of SHINE record users and creators on the potential evolution of the SHINE dataset for woodland creation schemes. The results of a programme of engagement (questionnaire, 1-2-1 interviews and three stakeholder workshops) have been analysed and the results presented in this document. Based on this analysis, initial recommendations have been made as to the next steps forward to accommodate the varying views and requirements of the different stakeholders while progressing the evolution of SHINE for use in woodland creation schemes.
Report available below
Project G: This commercial project report was written for the Forestry Commission and outlines ArchAI's approach to automatically detect ridge and furrow using deep learning/AI at a national scale.
Report available here
Project H: This commercial project report was written for the Forestry Commission and outlines ArchAI's approach to automatically detect woodlands on historic maps using deep learning/AI at a national scale.
report available here