¶ OPSEL
| Company | Skogforsk (Forestry Research Institiute of Sweden) |
| Country | Sweden |
| Website | https://www.skogforsk.se/english/products-and-events/software/opsel/ |
| Category | Nursery & Establishment › Remote sensing & mapping |
Software for optimum selection in tree breeding
¶ Overview
OPSEL is a decision-support software tool developed for operational selection and planning in forestry harvesting and silvicultural operations. The system is designed to assist harvest planners and operations managers in evaluating and selecting the most appropriate machinery configurations, work methods, and operational sequences for a given coupe or compartment, taking into account terrain characteristics, timber species and volume, environmental constraints, and production targets. OPSEL typically incorporates a database of machine performance parameters — including productivity models for fellers, processors, forwarders, and skidders — and uses these to simulate operational outcomes under different resource allocation scenarios. By comparing predicted outputs such as tonnes per productive machine hour, cost per cubic metre, and environmental compliance risk across multiple options, planners can make more objective and defensible operational decisions before committing equipment and crews to the field. The tool is particularly valuable in complex operations where multiple harvesting systems are viable and the cost differential between options is not immediately apparent from field inspection alone. In the Australian context, OPSEL-style planning tools have been applied in both native forest and plantation harvesting, where operators must balance commercial productivity requirements against strict environmental and safety constraints embedded in codes of forest practice and forest management plans. Integration with geographic information system (GIS) data layers — including digital elevation models, soil erodibility maps, and stream buffer zones — allows OPSEL to flag operational risk early in the planning cycle. Such tools contribute to the broader agenda of precision forestry by reducing reliance on experience-based heuristics and embedding systematic, data-driven reasoning into pre-harvest planning workflows.
¶ Details
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | Skogforsk (Forestry Research Institiute of Sweden) |
| Country | Sweden |
| Type | Company |
| Available in AU? | yes, freely online for research and non-commercial use |
| FWPA RD&E | 9.0 |