Acknowledgement

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Forest Research Institute in Zvolen, namely Mgr. Ivan Barkov PhD. for extremely valuable documents without which it would be impossible to create the Atlas of forest bee pasture. At the same time we would like to thank the State Veterinary and Food Administration, namely, MVDr. Erika Papierniková for materials about American foulbrood, as well as the Apicultural Research Institute, namely Ing. Pavol Kantík and MVDr. Martin Staroň for providing access to a database of beekeepers.

Apimondia contest A6 – Webside (http://vceliapastva.vcelari.sk)

2013

Ivan Hanula

DIGITAL ATLAS OF FOREST BEE PASTURE

The purpose of this Atlas is to serve as help for all beekeepers; it is freely available on the in-

ternet. The Atlas provides mapped 10 groups of trees, places of the occurrence of American

foulbrood and density of presence of bees in Slovakia. It is able to show to beekeepers where hon-

ey-laying could be expected. It were selected following 10 groups of trees which are important for

apiculture: spruce, fir, pine, larch, other coniferous trees, locust, maple, lime, oak and other leafy

trees. Prepared were maps of these groups of trees, an additional map of occurrence of American

foulbrood in respect of districts of Slovakia, as well as maps of density of presence of bees in Slo-

vakia. The Atlas is based on data valid in 2011.

The Atlas serves mainly as:

• Tool for beekeepers. • Information about the American foulbrood. • Information about ecological importance. • Information for general public.

The application

ATLAS

Layers of whole application are gathered by group layers, which are 25 in total. It is a list and a summary of all layers of the Digital Atlas of bee forest pasture. After expanding content of the map is displayed group layer. There are three group layers:

• Apiculture • Representation of trees • Topography

Examples of Atlas layers:

Layer of American foulbrood

Layer number of hives per sq.km

ATLAS LAYERS

Layer number of hives

Layer of pine and acacia localized around capital of Slovakia Bratislava

Layer of firs and maples localized around small village Stare Hory

Mapping application Digital Atlas of forest bee pasture runs on platform of ArcGIS Server of

Technical University in Zvolen and allows publishing - viewing digital maps. The resulting application allows viewing, browsing, deactivating and activating of individual map layers, measuring distances and many other functions.

It must be kept in mind that the Atlas was created in a scope of a Master thesis and it will need some extra time to make it more user-friendly and of a practical usage. In the future, the Atlas will be further developed and extended.

Genesis of the Atlas:

Genesis of the Atlas

THE APPLICATION

This service is in the test version and is available for free to all beekeepers around the world. Is

designed to show measured data from SMS beehive scales in a clear form of charts located on the map. In the next period, we will combine digital atlas of bee forest pasture along with these datas. Service supports all types of SMS/GSM/GPRS beehive scales available on market.

Beehive scales localized on Google map

Data from scale are presented via table and chart

SIGNALIZATION SERVICE

The Atlas was created in a scope of a Master thesis and it will need some extra time to make

it more user-friendly and of a practical usage. In the future, the Atlas will be further developed and extended.

Ing. Ivan Hanula

Graduate from the Technical University in Zvolen, Department of Forestry, specialization Geo-information and mapping technologies in forestry (2011). Currently employed as a chief officer at the Centre for Public Relations in the Forestry and Timber Museum in Zvolen, State-owned enter-prise - Forests of Slovak Republic. In his Master thesis he created a digital atlas of forest bee pasture (supervised by M. Koreň). Based on data provided by the NLC - Forest Research Institute in Zvolen, he made maps of spatial distribution of selected trees in Slovakia which are important from apicultural point of view.

Mgr. Milan Koreň, PhD.

Graduate from High School in Liptovsky (1982-1986) with specialization in operation and pro-gramming of calculating machines and Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Comenius University in Bratislava with specialisation in theoretical cybernetics, mathematical informatics and system theory (1986-1991). During the study he focused on the issues of application of mathematics and computer modelling in science. Since 2004 he has been working at the Technical University in Zvolen. He is involved in teaching Basics of GIS, GIS Operations, Applied GIS and Database Systems. He is a supervisor and a lecturer within several non-university activities. He is an author and a co-author of 87 scientific and professional publications in Slovakia and abroad. He drafted opinions on several projects for grant programs APVV, VEGA and KEGA, as well as review opinions for national and for-eign scientific publications. He cooperated on several scientific projects supported by grant agencies.

Ing. Peter Hanula

Expert in information technology and database systems.

Ing. Róbert Chlebo, PhD.

Expert in apicultural issues.

Ing. Richard Ružovič

He is currently building signalling service of nectar plants.

Slovak Union of Beekeepers

Slovak Beekeepers Association is a voluntary, independent and non-political association of citi-zens and legal persons who breed bees and are interested in apiculture, its development and culti-vating. Apiculture as intensifying factor is an important factor in increasing agricultural and forestry production. The important activity of Slovak Union of Beekeepers is also propagation of expertise and experiences of apicultural associations associated in international organizations APIMONDIA and APISLAVIA. Slovak Union of Beekeepers has supported our activities within a project for improving conditions of production and marketing of apian products as defined by later regulations ("Govern-ment regulation no. 422/2007"). Slovak Union of Beekeepers also provides us with space on their servers for interned site.

WHO WE ARE - Working team

Vision in short term

It must be kept in mind that the Atlas was created in a scope of a Master thesis and it will need

some extra time to make it more user-friendly and of a practical usage. In the future, the Atlas will be

further developed and extended.

In the near future we plan to solve the following issues:

• Make the Atlas faster.

• Software and hardware.

• Upgrade the precision of location from district level to cadastre level.

• Update the Atlas with data from 2013.

• Add a layer of digital terrain model.

• Promote the Atlas in front of professional and lay public.

Vision in medium term

In the past, there were several efforts to build a communication service in apicultural commu-nity. It would be possible to collect and display real-time measured data by using SMS digital scales. Within future prospectus, the Atlas could be enriched of maps of soil. The Atlas could analyse condi-tions of pastoral apiculture in Slovakia based on bedrock, collected data and altitude. According to data about honey a map of species and quality of honey in Slovakia could be prepared. It would be possible to easily localize and quickly display on the map flowering and occurrence of good hon-ey-laying. The Atlas could not only display maps, but it should also analyse data for different time periods on the basis of simple queries. Further, it could be also ensured an updating of created data-base directly from the central hive registry and the State Veterinary and Food Administration.

In the medium term we would like to address following topics:

• Development of a system for monitoring bee laying.

• Development of a system for monitoring of diseases of hives.

• Analysis of the relationship between bee pasture and location of hives.

• Analysis of the digital terrain model.

Vision in long term

The long term goal of this Atlas is to provide information about apicultural community, possi-bility of forest and other bee pasture within the territory of Slovakia. Information collected over longer periods of time – several years could serve to good purpose of beekeepers` decisions, apicul-tural policy, science and research.

VISION

Ivan Hanula 2013