Jointly developed by Metsä Group and Risutec, a Finnish forestry machinery manufacturer, the Asta application enables the person preparing the soil to follow the progress of their work in real time. Before the introduction of Asta, the machine operator measured sample plots in the prepared area.
Well performed soil preparation is fundamental in forest regeneration. Ideally, the result should be as even as possible, but in practice, the machine operator often has to modify the density in different parts of the site.
Launched in 2016, the Asta application enables the operator to easily change the density according to needs, as the application continuously indicates the area of the prepared soil and the number of planting spots made per hectare.
Because the exact number of planting spots is known after soil preparation, the right number of seedlings can be ordered at the same time. This offers savings in the regeneration chain thanks to the number of superfluous seedlings returned and the number of additional seedlings delivered to the site decreasing considerably. This facilitates spring seedling distribution in particular, as the number of seedlings required for sites prepared in the autumn is known well in advance.
The application creates a digital map layer depicting each prepared mound. Metsä Group's personnel can view the map layer in their map systems, and forest owners in the Metsäverkko service.
The Asta application can be easily installed in excavators. A GPS sensor is mounted to the excavator boom, and the application itself is used with a tablet or smartphone. The application stores the planting spot at an accuracy of 50 centimetres.