Forestry departments face a unique geospatial challenge: managing enormous, often remote areas with historically limited digital infrastructure. CodeRize has delivered two related projects in this space — digitizing forest stock from handwritten maps, and developing a Web Map Service (WMS) for forest encroachment detection and monitoring.
These two projects reflect a natural progression: digitization converts static, paper-based forest stock records into structured geospatial data, while WMS-based monitoring builds on top of that structured data to actively detect and track encroachment over time.
Without digitized baseline data, it’s difficult to detect change over time — encroachment, deforestation, or land-use shifts are hard to quantify against paper records. By establishing a digital baseline first, forestry departments gain the foundation needed for ongoing monitoring rather than one-off assessments.
What is a Web Map Service (WMS)?
A WMS is a standard protocol for serving georeferenced map images over the web, allowing monitoring systems to display and update spatial layers like encroachment zones in near real time.
Does this approach apply beyond forestry?
Yes — the digitize-then-monitor pattern applies to any sector managing large land areas, including agriculture and water resources.
CodeRize’s Geospatial team has direct experience digitizing and monitoring forest data. Contact us at info@coderize.in to discuss your project.