EO4CAM forestry workshop at the LWF in Freising
EO4CAM
On July 10, 2025, the “EO4CAM HAP4 Forestry” workshop was held at the Bavarian State Institute of Forestry (LWF) in Freising. A total of 17 participants from various institutions, including the LWF, the Bavarian State Forestry Enterprise, the Bavarian Institute for Forest Genetics, the University Forest Administration Sailershausen, the Department for Food, Agriculture and Forestry (AELF) from Bad Neustadt a. d. Saale, and the Bavarian Forest National Park, attended the event.
The HAP4 leaders, Dr. Julian Fäth from the University of Würzburg and Dr. Sarah Asam from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), guided the participants through the six-hour program. The workshop aimed to engage project partners and stakeholders to tailor EO4CAM data products to user needs and to identify relevant technical data interfaces.
In the morning session, recent developments from the working package “Forestry” were presented, including a canopy height map, an update of the forest canopy cover loss product, vitality analyses on beech trees in northern Bavaria, and hydrographic modeling. A particularly in-depth discussion focused on the topic of pest risks. The participants jointly developed ideas for methodological approaches, for example, the role of drought stress as an indicator, additional site factors, and forecasting options. This active involvement was a central and valuable part of the event. Additional feedback from practitioners was also collected on terminology, definitions, and application potential of the other presented datasets.
EO4CAM
Beyond the content-related topics, technical interfaces were also addressed to ensure that EO4CAM data products can be directly integrated into the workflows of participating agencies and institutions from the outset. To support this, Lucas Angermann (DLR) demonstrated the capabilities of the EO4CAM data portal, which had already been made available to attendees in advance, allowing for immediate user feedback and suggestions for improvement. To illustrate interoperability with existing systems, Stephan Millitzer from LWF presented the "BayWIS" enterprise GIS, which is centrally used in the Bavarian forestry administration. Using their included geoportal, he demonstrated the already feasible integration of a dataset from the EO4CAM test data portal.
Another program segment highlighted current developments, datasets, and events in the field of remote sensing, offering participants a short overview of other innovations in this sector. The workshop concluded with a group discussion on long-term perspectives. One of the outcomes was the agreement to establish an email distribution list to support ongoing communication between project staff and institutional stakeholders.
The workshop highlighted the strong interest in EO4CAM data products and underlined the importance of coordinated collaboration for the sustainable management of Bavarian forests. The organizers thank all participants for their dedicated contributions and the open, constructive exchange.
