2026 Conference

Conference name:  ForestSAT 2026

Dates: May 4-8th, 2026

Location: Gainesville, Florida

Venue: J. Wayne Reitz Union, University of Florida

Host: Forest Biometrics and Remote Sensing Lab (SilvaLab)

Organizing lead:‍ ‍Carlos Silva

Attendees: 352 participants from 33 different countries, including 276 in-person attendees and 76 online participants

About: The 2026 ForestSAT in Gainesville, Florida, was the 11th in the series of prestigious international ForestSAT conferences, bringing together experts to share advancements in forestry, remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and geospatial technologies. A series of specialized virtual pre-conference workshops was organized to cover cutting-edge topics, including deep learning-based tree species mapping, Google Earth Engine applications, and Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) processing workflows. The conference hosted an extensive technical program featuring plenary, general, and special sessions, representing numerous presentations and posters. These covered topics ranging from global harmonized in situ forest biomass databases (such as GEO-TREES) to mapping forest management practices to support international regulations. The concluding phase of the event included a dedicated educational field tour to the Austin Cary Forest, sponsored and supported by RIEGL. The schedule included practical, hands-on field demonstrations in which participants witnessed the capabilities of advanced terrestrial and mobile laser scanning systems, such as the RIEGL VZ-600i, which are increasingly critical for automated forest plotting and inventory. Attendees also explored the unique ecosystem dynamics of Florida's forests and actively discussed with leading researchers and forest managers how remote sensing and innovative LiDAR technologies are being deployed on the ground for biomass estimation and ecosystem monitoring.

Thematic Areas : No specific thematic areas were identified for the conference.

Special sessions: In total, 29 special sessions were organized (see detailed programme below).

Keynote speakers:

  • Paul Siqueira (Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst)
    NISAR: A New Era For The Remote Sensing of Ecosystems

  • Valerie Pasquarella (Senior Research Scientist, Google)
    Intelligent Scaling: How Geospatial AI is Redefining Forest Remote Sensing

  • Joanne C. White (Research Scientist, Canadian Forest Service)
    Why Remote Sensing Is So Hard - and What Forestry Teaches Us

Proceedings/ForestSAT Special Issue(s): There was no special issue for the conference.

URL:‍ ‍https://carlos-alberto-silva.github.io/silvalab/ForestSAT2026/index.html

Programme:

Prices: Early Bird Regular In-Person Registration: $795.00 USD, Early Bird Regular Virtual Registration: $495.00 USD, Early Bird Student In-Person Registration: $525.00 USD, Early Bird Student Virtual Registration: $395.00 USD, On time Regular In-Person Registration: $945.00 USD, On time Regular Virtual Registration: $645.00 USD, On time Student In-Person Registration: $675.00 USD, On time Student Virtual Registration: $545.00 USD, Late Regular In-Person Registration: $1,045.00 USD, Late Student In-Person Registration: $775.00 USD.D