Precision Forestry Symposium
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THE INTERNATIONAL PRECISION FORESTRY SYMPOSIUM
3-7 February 2025
The upcoming Precision Forestry Symposium will be held in Stellenbosch (South Africa), starting on the 3rd and ending on the 7th of February 2025. The meeting is supported by two divisions 3.04 Forest Operations Management and 3.10 Forest Robotics and Digital Forest Operations of the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO). It has also support from the Southern African Institute of Forestry (SAIF).
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Themes:
- Optimization & Simulation
- Machine Learning / AI
- Applications of Remote and Proximal Sensing
- Forest Machine Data Handling and Interpretation
- Robotics and Unmanned Platforms
- Geographic Information Technologies and Geomatics
- Forest Management, Planning and Scheduling Systems
- Precision Infrastructure Planning, Construction and Monitoring
- Energy Expenditure and Emissions in Wood Supply
- The Man-Machine interface and Operator Performance & Wellbeing
Call For Abstracts: Please submit your abstracts as an email attachment to Dr Justin Erasmus (erasj@sun.ac.za) by November 15th 2024. Initial abstracts must be one to a maximum of three pages. Options of submitting extended abstracts for the Proceedings or full manuscripts for a special issue/collection will be announced in due course.
The programme consists of 3 main parts; a workshop aimed at PhD students and young researchers, a day of commercial workshops including in-depth sessions with suppliers of sensors, platforms, systems and software, and then the scientific symposium itself (Keynotes and Presentations). We encourage participation throughout the event and encourage especially those travelling from afar to make use of one or both weekends sightseeing around the beautiful Cape Town and its surroundings. Accompanying people can be accommodated to a certain extent, with some options to follow.
Unfortunately, we will have to limit the number of participants to around 70-75, so we may need to be selective in terms of geographic representation and topic when accepting registrations. In the meantime, any questions can be sent to Dr. Justin Erasmus.
Provisional Programme
| ?Date? | ?Morning | ?Afternoon | ??Evening |
| ?Monday 3rd Feb | ?PhD Workshop | ?PhD Workshop | ?PhD Dinner + Workshop |
| ?Tuesday 4th Feb | ?Commercial Workshop | ?Commercial Workshop | ?Registration + Ice-breaker |
| ?Wednesday 5th Feb | ?Keynote + Presentations | Presentations | ?Wine Tasting + Braai |
| ?Thursday 6th Feb | ??Keynote + Presentations | ?Presentations | ?Conference Dinner |
| ??Friday 7th Feb | ???Keynote + Presentations | ? | ? |
The organising and scientific committees are pleased to announce the following invited speakers who will give keynote presentations dealing with the themes of the symposium: ?
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| ?Prof. Ola Lindroos (Sweden) | ?Ms Miranda Wilson (RSA) | ?Prof. Kanshukan Rajaratnam (RSA)? |
Symposium Costs
| Participation | SADC member (ZAR) | ?Rest of World (ZAR) |
| ?PhD Workshop + Dinner | 670 | 1000 |
| Commercial Workshops + Refreshments | ?565 | ?770 |
| ?Symposium (Ice-breaker, Wine tasting, lunches and conference dinner) | 2950 | 4950 |
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Registration
Please register using this Quicket? li?nk before purchasing a ticket. Registration closes on 18 December 2024.??
Practical Information
Stellenbosch is located in the Winelands district, roughly 40 km east of Cape Town airport. International airlines operating into Cape Town directly include Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, British Airways, KLM, Emirates, Turkish Airlines, United Airlines, Delta while others fly into Johannesburg (OR Tambo airport), from where a domestic airline can be used.
Stellenbosch enjoys a Mediterranean climate with hot dry summers (December to March). The climate in early February (mid-summer) is generally very warm (30+ Celsius, 90+F), although evenings can be cool.
The town is historic by local standards (established early 1700s) and experiences significant tourism pressure during the summer. Participants are encouraged to make preliminary accommodation arrangements at their earliest possibility. The Western Cape province offers some iconic tourist destinations, including Cape Town, Table Mountain, Cape Point, the Winelands, and the southern tip of Africa.
Most international car rental companies are represented although one should be aware that driving is on the left (right-hand drive). Ride services like Uber are prevalent and a cost-effective? and safe method of getting around, including to and from the airport.
Accommodation
We recommend the use of online services such as;??
The conference organizational committee invites organizations interested in sponsoring this event to contact Dr. Justin Erasmus?. Click here? to see the list of our official sponsors.
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Questions
Please contact Dr. Justin Erasmus should you have any questions.?
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