Where the Idea Came From
Forester’s Friend began with a simple problem I kept noticing while learning how to cruise. Field measurements, stand information, calculations, reports, and spreadsheets often lived in separate places. That made a job that was already detailed feel slower and more complicated than it needed to be.
I wanted one application that could follow the same path as the actual work: create the project, set up the stands, collect the data, review the calculations, and turn the results into something a landowner or forestry professional could use.
Why I Created It
I created Forester’s Friend to make timber cruising faster, easier to organize, and easier to explain. I also wanted the app to reflect the forestry practices I was learning in the Southeast rather than feeling like a generic data-entry system.
The goal was not to hide the technical side of forestry. It was to put the everyday workflow first while still making equations, assumptions, and calculation details available when someone needs to review them.
How I Built It
Forester’s Friend began with my idea and design. I mapped out the workflow, decided what each feature needed to do, supplied the forestry requirements, tested every version, and made the final decisions about how the app should work.
I used ChatGPT as a development partner throughout the process. Based on my instructions, it wrote much of the Swift and SwiftUI code, helped troubleshoot problems, and turned my designs into working features.
My role was to design and guide the product, check the equations, test the app in Xcode, identify what was not working, and direct the revisions. The result combines my forestry knowledge and product design with AI-assisted software development.
- Project, stand, plot, and tree data entry
- Fixed area and variable radius prism cruising
- Species, DBH, height, and product class workflows
- Trees per acre, basal area, volume, and value calculations
- Calculation review and equation references
- Project and stand reports
- PDF, Excel, CSV, and project file exports
- Local storage, backups, imports, and performance improvements
The app has been shaped through repeated testing and revision. I have used realistic cruise information, reviewed the results, changed workflows that took too many steps, and continued improving the app whenever something did not feel practical or clear.
What I Want Forester’s Friend to Become
I want Forester’s Friend to be a dependable companion for forestry students, working foresters, and consultants who need a simpler way to collect information and communicate results.
It is also a project that represents the kind of work I want to keep doing: combining forestry knowledge, business thinking, and software development to solve real problems.
Contact
Questions, feedback, and support requests may be sent to:
forestersfriend@gmail.com