Plan a field visit

Check the stand is ready, let the layout generator propose plots with the precision to expect, accept them, and add relocation details so the crew can re-find each plot for years.

For

Consultant foresters

Time

10 minutes per stand

Where

Web app — Stand › Field work › Sample plots

Updated

2026-10-03

A visit needs three things on the stand: methods chosen, targets set and sample plots laid out. The overview’s Ready for the next visit? card ticks each one. There is no separate “send” step: the field app picks up the stand’s methods, targets and plots when it next syncs.

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1. Plan a visit opens Sample plots; it tells you how many of the three set-up steps are done.
2. Generate layout jumps straight to the layout generator.
3. The checklist — each line links to the page that finishes it.

Generate a layout

The generator proposes where to measure for one of the stand’s methods, with the precision you can expect and a time estimate. Nothing is saved until you accept.

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1. Choose the method to lay out — each method has its own rules (below).
2. Choose the plot design — for stand data: concentric 500 m² (as the Irish NFI), 300 m², or angle-count points.
3. Set the precision target — the error you accept on the stand’s basal area at 95 % confidence. ±15 % is usual; ±20 % suits small stands; ±10 % costs many more plots. These are common practice, not a standard.
4. Keep or change the seed. The same seed always gives the same layout, so a layout can be reproduced and checked.
5. Choose Generate layout.

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6. Read what is proposed — the design (systematic grid with random start and rotation, or a spatially balanced sample), version and seed, and the area sampled.
7. Check the expected precision for basal area and stems per hectare, and where the variability (CV) comes from — published defaults by transformation stage until the stand has its own data.
8. Check the time estimate — measuring plus walking; its assumptions are listed and can be wrong for your crew.
9. Untick plots you will not use. Plots near the edge are flagged Edge — walkthrough correction: they are not moved (moving them would bias the estimate); measure them with the walkthrough method.

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10. Choose Accept layout to save the plots, or Regenerate (new seed) to try another.
11. Or Discard it. Nothing was saved.

How each method lays out

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Rides, roads, water and open ground can be left out: tick a confirmed polygon map layer under Leave out (a 5 m buffer keeps plot centres off tracks). See Map layers.

Add relocation details

A permanent plot is only useful if it is found again. Each location can carry notes, a centre marker, witness trees and a traverse from a landmark; the field app shows them when you are within 20 m of the point.

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1. Kind and stable reference. Keep the reference the same every visit (P07, S03…). The plot size or radius goes in the fields below.
2. Relocation notes — how to find it: a painted band, a bearing and distance from a feature.
3. The centre marker — buried metal, a pin, a post… and notes on it.
4. Witness trees — species, DBH, tag, and the bearing and distance from the centre to the tree. Two or three well-spread trees are enough.
5. A tie-point traverse — from a landmark, legs of bearing and distance (with slope if taped on the slope).
6. The point on the map — Place point, or paste GeoJSON. In the field, GPS averaging can replace a rough position with an averaged one.
7. Choose Add location (Save location when editing).

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