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The article deals with the features of soil-agrochemical inspection of the nursery area with the use of geoinformation technologies. The purpose of this work was to conduct a soil survey of arable sod-podzolic medium - or light-loamy soils of the territory of the forest nursery, as well as estimation of production area contamination with weeds. The peculiarity of this study was the fact that the process of collection, systematization and processing of all compiled information was focused on the use of modern geographic information systems. Survey points were chosen in coordination with the administration of the nursery and were precised according to the actual space images. Geographical reference of testing points was carried out using global positioning technologies (GPS, GLONASS) based on the NextGIS mobile application (Android OS). Photofixation of nursery fields was performed by means of geotagging technologies, which allow implementation of the obtained graphic information directly into the geographic information system (GIS). The soil samples collected in the field were analyzed in the soil laboratory in order to determine the main indicators of soil fertility. On the basis of the received data the cartograms were developed by means of GIS, which provide information on the main nutrients content in the soil of nursery fields as well as on the most important indicators characterizing the soil absorbing complex (soil acidity, degree of base saturation, etc.). The study of weed infestation allowed developing the thematic map representing the weeds propagation on the nursery fields. All collected information was combined into a comprehensive geographic information system developed on the basis of Quantum GIS shell. As a result, the developed GIS will contribute to operational monitoring of soil fertility and ensure informational support for agricultural machinery applied in the nursery for growing planting material.

With this article, we provide an overview of the methods, instruments and initiatives for forest biomass observation at global scale. We focus on the freely available information, provided by both remote and in-situ observations. The advantages and limitation of various space borne methods, including optical, radar (C, L and P band) and LiDAR, as well as respective instruments available on the orbit (MODIS, Proba-V, Landsat, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 , ALOS PALSAR, Envisat ASAR) or expecting (BIOMASS, GEDI, NISAR, SAOCOM-CS) are discussed. We emphasize the role of in-situ methods in the development of a biomass models, providing calibration and validation of remote sensing data. We focus on freely available forest biomass maps, databases and empirical models. We describe the functionality of Biomass.Geo-Wiki.org portal, which provides access to a collection of global and regional biomass maps in full resolution with unified legend and units overplayed with high-resolution imagery. The Forest-Observation-System.net is announced as an international cooperation to establish a global in-situ forest biomass database to support earth observation and to encourage investment in relevant field-based observations and science. Prospects of unmanned aerial vehicles in the forest inventory are briefly discussed. The work was partly supported by ESA IFBN project (contract 4000114425/15/NL/FF/gp).