As land use pressure increases, the involvement of regulatory agencies of disciplines such as fisheries, wildlife, recreation, parks and forestry has increased in the route selection process. The process of selecting a route with due consideration for the constraints of these disciplines can be achieved after carefully assessing several alternatives.
A route selection consists of engineering, biophysical and socio-economic components. A road will generate constraints in any or all of these components. The road proponent must present the advantages and disadvantages of alternative proposals, the rationale for choosing a particular route and the trade-offs made (unavoidable impacts requiring protection planning) on the basis of the best balance and/or the equitable compromise between the engineering, biophysical and socio-economic components.
Aerial photography has developed to a standard, technically mature tool for aerial photo interpretation, reconnaissance and inventory purposes. Yet, traditional procedures of photogrammetric data capture may be insufficient to address all of today's environmental protection issues regarding road planning. Fortunately, the technical development of new scanning sensors and automated imagery data processing software to identify site investigation data in a detailed spatial context, have recently become affordable. An application of this technology has been made in developing preliminary road network plans in Mie University Forests and its potential has been evaluated.
Key words: imagery data processing, aerial photography, route selection, sensitive site investigations.
Correspondence: Masami Shiba, Forest Operations and Systems, Faculty of Bioresources, Mie University, 1515 Kamihama, Tsu, Mie 514 Japan
Telefax: +81-592-319517
E-mail: shiba@bio.mie-u.ac.jp