Smartphone Capable Forestry Densiometer

Last crawled date: 5 years, 9 months ago

Densiometers are simple tools used by foresters all over the world to roughly estimate the amount of foliage coverage in a certain area of trees. This knowledge of coverage allows logging companies to make ethical decisions as to when forests need to be cut versus when they need to be left alone, which addresses the OSAT principle of transforming life on land. It is supposed to act as a stable grid that is placed over a photo taken with a generic smartphone (though it is designed for a Google Pixel 2XL). With 50 squares, finding a percentage of tree coverage is as simple as counting the "green" squares and multiplying the number by 2. After talking to a forester, I found that they like to have lightweight gear (so I worked for plastic reduction) that is still sturdy. Both these considerations were taken into account in the design process.