Permanent Sample Plots (PSP)

Accuracy

Atlas PSP makes collecting accurate and complete field data easy.

Field data can be collected manually on paper forms, or electronically using PSPDC, a DOS-based data capture program for use on field computers. In either case, previous measurement data is available for data checking in the field. Field computers will issue warnings about growth outside the expected range or missing data and provide alerts as to which tree heights are required for Mean Dominant Height and Mean Top Height. Meaningful warnings are generated by specifying the expected value range for the type of crop. For example, eucalypts can increase in height faster than pines and young trees grow faster than mature trees. All these features greatly reduce the likelihood of measurement errors and omissions hence the need to revisit plots.

Checks

Comprehensive checks are made on the data when updating the database from field data to identify missing or incomplete data so it can be corrected, if necessary by a repeat field visit.

The data is stored securely with features to minimise careless or malicious data loss. Typically just the PSP administrator has update rights to the database while other users have read-only access.

Reporting

The PSP data are summarised as per-hectare values using either default or user-specified tree volume, tree taper, and age adjustment tables.

Summary data can be stored in ATLAS GeoMaster and the plot locations can be linked to GIS.

ATLAS PSP provides many reports and utilities for presenting and extracting the plot data. Predefined report formats provide a range of reports from one line to a full summary report for each plot. Customised reports of the summarised data can be created where data are extracted by selecting required fields and saving these to a file. A graphing facility enables graphs of measurement data to be viewed, printed, or saved to a data file.