Integrate+ software for virtual training exercises in forest stands

Forests are asked to provide a multitude of ecosystem services and forest managers need to ensure in their daily work these are well balanced. This is a demanding task and requires best available knowledge and continuous training. To serve such needs the software package ‘I+’ was developed jointly by research and software developers and tested by practitioners. It runs on handheld devices and is used for training exercises in designated forest sites, so called marteloscopes. I+ allows to perform virtual tree selections and directly displays the outcomes of silvicultural interventions on site. Having intervention results readily available stimulatesfactbased interaction and discussion among exercise participants. The software is currently tailored to address impacts and trade-offs of biodiversity conservation in commercially managed forests.
Due to its modular design, it can easily be expanded to cover other highly relevant forest management topics such as carbon balancing. Through data export functions, exercise results can be utilized in more sophisticated tools such as forest growth simulators. The paper presents the key parameters used for training and the corresponding software solution. The I+ software components are then illustrated along examples. The software is freely available for download at the ‘Iplus’ website.