🌲 About Forest Watch
AI-powered deforestation detection for Sumatra — analyze satellite or aerial images to identify active forest clearing and support conservation efforts.
Project overview
Forest Watch analyzes aerial and satellite images (Google Earth Pro) to automatically detect active deforestation — areas showing clearing, exposed soil, or logging patterns. The system focuses on timely, actionable detections to help researchers and policy makers.
Dataset collection
Imagery captured at various altitudes and locations across Sumatra. Samples were filtered for clouds, blur, and duplicates before annotation.
- Source: Google Earth Pro
- Top-down, north-oriented images
- Camera altitude: 1000m – 2000m (close-ups: 100–300m)
Dataset statistics
- Collected
- 132
- After filtering
- 122
- Annotated
- 61
Filtering removed images with heavy cloud cover, blur, inconsistent lighting, or duplicates.
Detection criteria
Color indicators
Brown, gray, or yellowish areas lacking green vegetation.
Geometric patterns
Open clearings with rectilinear or repetitive clearing shapes.
Logging evidence
Visible logging roads, stacked logs, or equipment traces.
Forest context
Located inside or adjacent to forest cover (not plantations or paddy fields).
Technology stack
Data collection
- • Google Earth Pro
- • Manual annotation & filtering
AI & training
- • Roboflow (training & deployment)
- • Object detection workflow
Project goal
Provide an accessible automated tool to monitor deforestation in Sumatra, enabling timely intervention and conservation.