Decision Support Systems for Forestry in Galicia (Spain): SaDDriade

Abstract

Ever since they were created in the 70s, Decision Support Systems (DSS) have been a great source of help with different management problems such as the optimization of travel times in airlines or train companies, medical diagnosis, business management, natural resource management, agriculture and forestry. Forest planning uses forest simulators that usually include growth and performance models in order to generate the different alternative management programs which will give rise to different production processes and programs. The selection of the best choice according to predefined criteria, which are generally related to the number of alternative management options, production programs and assessment criteria, require the use of optimization methods. These optimization methods range from whole linear programming, goal programming to heuristic methods, among which tabu search, genetic algorithm and simulated annealing are worth noting.