Version 1.9.6

Languages:

[[::Version 1.9.6|English]]  • [[::Version 1.9.6/sv|svenska]]

2013-03-13

Summary

This release note describes changes since version 1.9.5.0. The changes have partly been released already in patches 1.9.5.1 to 1.9.5.4, but for these patches no newsletters have been published.

New features

• A mailing function has been implemented which makes it easier to share a project with someone else. The function compresses the current project into a zip file and lets you send it by e-mail. There is also a decompressing function which lets you unpack a zipped project. You find this functionality under the File-menu (Arkiv-menyn). See http://heureka.ad.slu.se/Help/index.html?skicka_projektfiler.htm
• Price correction for timber log length is now possible. All users should update their pricelists accordingly. It is possible to enter different corrections for different diameter classes and species, but, for technical reasons, not for different quality classes. When adding price corrections, make sure that the butt log and middle log can be cut up to 5.5 m and 11 m tree height (see below).

• The default priclist has been changed. It it based on Mellanskog Stockholm (no. LV 31-51, Jan 2013). Length corrections are included. (http://www.mellanskog.se/Global/Virkesprislistor/S%C3%A5gt%20norr%20M%C3%A4lar%20V%C3%A4rmland%20LV%2031-51.pdf).

Improvements

• A sufficient criteria for a stand to be classified as a conifer stand has been 500 conifer trees per ha. The reason for this is that there may be many decidous trees during the young phase of a conifer stand, so even if the dominant species may be deciduous, the main crop species is usually the conifer species and a larger proprtion of the deciduous trees removed in cleanings and thinnings. This is important since the dominant species is used when setting minimum final felling age (if the regeneration species is unknown, see below), and the minimum final felling age is usually shorter for deciduous species than for conifers. The problem with this criteria is that stands have almost always been classified as conifer stands, because 500 conifer trees is a quite low threshold value. The criteria has therefore been increased to 800 conifer tres/ha, and also been made available as a user parameter in control table TreatmentModel. The parameter is called Conifer Criteria.
• Management class PF is sometimes denoted as K which is now also accepted when importing stand register data.
• A new result variable called RegenerationSpecies is available in result category ForestData. It corresponds to variable RegenerationSpecies in result category Treatments, but is available for each period (Treatments.RegenerationSpecies is only available for the period if and when a regeneration treatment is applied). ForestData.RegenerationSpecies tells you what species has been used to determine minimum final felling age (LÅF). DominantSpecies was used for this before, and the RegenerationSpecies and DominantSpecies are usually the same, but not always.
• When applying forest fuel thinning, utilization grades for different tree fractions have been determined by parameter settings Utilization in control table TreatmentModel. This is intended for harvest residue extraction, and not forest fuel thinning. Therefore parameters Forest Fuel Thinning Utilization have been added to control utilization grades.
• The user-defined utilization grade for needles and branches in the top of a tree have until now been multiplied with the utilization grade of the top. This has been changed so that the utilization grades for needles and branches refer to the proportion of needles and branches available in the part of the trees referred to. This means that the utilization grades are consistent for all tree fractions. So, if the utilization grade for the top is 90 %, and 90 % of the needles in the top are utilized, you set Utilization.Top = 90 % and Utilization.Needles Top = 90 %. To do this in previous versions, you should have set Utilization.Needles Top = 100 %.
• Data in categories SiteData and StandObjectData are now available in TPG-result view.
• More informative error messages (instead of "Critical exception occurred" etc.) are now displayed when there is a problem with an optimization model or solver.
• Stand register data files (csv-format) can have different column delimiters depending on language settings. The importer now attempts to detect what delimiter is used. If not successful, the user is asked for the delimiter symbol.

Bug fixes

• When importing a pricelist with the same identifier as a pricelist already present in the project, it was not saved. This has been fixed.
• In timber pricelists, there is a column called Waste (vrak). The copy and paste function did not include this column. This has been fixed.
• Resetting Utilization Grade values to default values in control table TreatmentModel now works as expected.
• The default value for plant density in RegenerationSettings dialog in control table ProductionModel is now properly saved.
• For biofuel extraction, a model is used to calculate how much of the needle biomass that is located in the (cut) tree top. For this calculation, the length of the tree top is used, which is obtained by multiplying with tree top proportion. Instead of using proportion of length, proportion of volume was used, which may have overestimated the amount of needles extracted. This has been fixed.
• Reports using conditions with StandObjectData-variables now work as expected.
• The amount of biomass extracted (result category Financial Value) depends on the user-defined utilization grades for different tree fractions (see above), as set in control table TreatmentModel. This control table was mistakenly read from Default Control Category instead of the applied control category. This has been fixed.
• The result variable DominantSpecies is used to determine minimum final felling age. When simulating a plantation, DominantSpecies was set to the site index species instead of the main species. For example, a regenerated oak stand would obtain pine as DominantSpecies, despite that the planted species per se was correct. This has led to too long final felling ages in plantations with deciduous trees or contorta as main species. This problem was unfortunately introduced in version 1.9.4 but has now been solved.