How the 5 Vs of Big Data function in forest management

Explore how Big Data optimizes processes and results in the forestry production chain

Companies in the forestry industry are increasingly betting on Big Data—a concept that describes the large volume of data that is generated every second—to help organize, perform, and optimize processes and results.

While some of the world’s largest technology-driven companies exist in North America, the country with the quickest adoption growth rate of Big Data analytics is in South America. Argentina comes in first with a 20.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), followed by Vietnam (19.8% CAGR) and Indonesia (19.4% CAGR). [1] 

As the adoption of Big Data goes global, it’s important to understand that Big Data is viewed favorably in the forestry industry for its ability to cross data to obtain quick and strategic insights.

Keep reading to learn about the 5 Vs of Big Data and the importance of utilizing data analysis for your forest investment.

What are the 5 Vs of Big Data?

Before exploring the benefits of Big Data for forest management, it is essential to understand the 5 Vs of Big Data and the characteristics of Big Data that are vital for effective analysis.

1. Volume of data generated every second is the first factor that makes up Big Data. The amount obtained can be turned into intelligence and strategy for your forest investment.
2. Variety refers to the amount of data sources your company retains. The more you hold, the greater the complexity of work and possibilities for generating useful information.
3. Velocity refers to the agile data processing required to generate the necessary information from the large volume and variety of data.
4. Veracity of the data obtained is directly linked to how much information collected is true and accurate.
5. Value refers to the necessity to understand the context to generate information that is actually useful for your forest management.

What are the advantages of Big Data for the forestry sector?

On the journey toward a more technologically advanced forest management process, Big Data analytics, machine learning, IoT (Internet of Things) and artificial intelligence are terms that should become increasingly common in the forestry industry.

The productivity of a forest varies according to a large and complex number of processes that are related to climatic variables, nutrition, management, species, forest occurrences, damages, and more. By utilizing Big Data, it is possible to identify the relationship between each variable and measure the impact and objectives of each scenario combination.

Once the data collected about your forest is analyzed, artificial intelligence can be inserted to assist in decision-making in stages such as planting establishment or regrowth and harvesting.

Learn more:

 The importance of a strategic timber harvesting plan

What’s the importance of Big Data analytics?

The information collected from the 5 Vs of Big Data are essential, but all the strategic intelligence is up to data analysts to generate insights that guide business decisions.

Data analysis is a fundamental step in the Big Data process that involves inspecting the data and creating hypotheses to carry out tests in order to improve or understand a given scenario and its patterns. 

Big Data analytics allows those involved in the forest management process to gain insights on their investments in a short amount of time with user-friendly, comprehensive technology leading the way.

Learn more:

How technology advances the evolution of forest management

How we can help

At INFLOR, our multi-language, multi-user forest management solutions allow you to parametrize specific business rules to your company and collect data through reports, data cubes, BI integrations, and Excel spreadsheets, so you can gain better insights and yield the best results.

In addition to our forestry solutions, we also offer technology services such as our modern, secure cloud services and hosting for clients that don’t have the entire infrastructure needed to host and manage our solution on-site.

Ready to explore our full suite of solutions and technology services?

Request a demo today.

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Source:

1: IDC | Worldwide Big Data and Analytics Spending Guide