Frequently Asked Questions
California Forest Observatory
Frequently Asked Questions
I’m not a scientist/expert, can I still use the Forest Observatory?
Absolutely, we designed the platform for use by both experts and the general public. We encourage everyone to explore California’s forests and other ecosystems in a whole new light. Use the Layers tab to search for your community or your favorite outdoor recreational area. In the Trends tab you can click on the map to see recent and forecasted wildfire exposure and weather conditions for your area of interest. The Explore tab has curated views of landscape changes around California. Spend some time playing around with the platform and all it’s features; don’t worry, you can’t break anything.
Is the platform really free? Can you describe the license terms?
Yes, you may use the platform, sign up for an account, and download the data at no cost as long as you are doing so for non-commercial research purposes. We do offer commercial licenses for use of the platform and it’s data; please get in touch at in...@forestobservatory.com for details and pricing. See the full Terms of Use for more information.
What new data products are on the horizon?
Annual wildfire hazard, tree mortality, and forest carbon are all in active development. Please sign up for an account to ensure you are notified when these data are released.
I am interested in seeing a particular dataset/feature/service added to the platform, how can I make this kind of request?
Please post requests for new data, features, and/or services to the Forest Observatory Community Forum. If you see a request has already been made, reply with a “+1” or thumbs up. Due to limited resources, we cannot guarantee specific requests will be incorporated.
Where can I report anomalies or mistakes in the data? What about bugs in the platform user interface?
Please post these to the Forest Observatory Community Forum.
Why do the data layers come in two different spatial resolutions (3m and 10m)?
The 10 m resolution layers use freely available satellite imagery as inputs and are available every year from 2016–2020. These layers may be more appropriate for applications like fire behavior modeling. The 3 m resolution layers incorporate commercial imagery from Planet and are available for 2016 and 2020 only.
How often will the data be updated moving forward?
At minimum, annual data layers will be refreshed once a year at the end of the summer. We are considering the potential to update more often over locations with large disturbances.
Do the data layers include LiDAR?
No, we are not simply mosaicking LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data and satellite-derived data to create a composite map. We use airborne LiDAR to train models that can predict vegetation attributes using satellite imagery over all of California. These LiDAR data are not used in the final map, 100% of the map is derived from satellite imagery.
How are the data layers validated?
We have sourced over 140,000 km2 of airborne LiDAR data. We use about 60% of this area to train our models, with the other half reserved for validation—meaning each data layer is validated across tens of thousands of km2. We are currently working to incorporate additional sources of independent validation data (e.g., field data, GEDI) and these results will be available in a forthcoming scientific publication.
I would like to include Forest Observatory data layers in my webmap or GIS application. Can this be arranged?
Yes. There are a few options. Please get in touch with us at in...@forestobservatory.com.