Practice Test Geeks(SAF) Society of American Foresters Certification Practice Test
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Geographic Information Systems Flashcards

7 cards from real SAF practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

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  1. A forest manager wants to combine a soils layer and a slope layer to identify areas suitable for timber harvest. Which GIS overlay operation produces a single output layer with attributes from both inputs?

    Answer: Intersect

    The Intersect operation returns the geometric intersection of two or more layers, retaining attributes from all input layers.

  2. What is the purpose of a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) in forest GIS applications?

    Answer: To represent bare-earth surface elevations for terrain analysis

    A DEM represents bare-earth surface elevations and is used to derive slope, aspect, and watershed boundaries for forest planning.

  3. When classifying a satellite image into forest cover types, which supervised classification approach requires the analyst to define training samples first?

    Answer: Maximum Likelihood Classification

    Maximum Likelihood Classification is a supervised method requiring analyst-defined training samples to represent each cover class.

  4. Which coordinate system uses easting and northing values in meters and divides the world into 60 numbered zones, commonly used in US forestry GPS work?

    Answer: Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)

    UTM divides the world into 60 zones, using metric easting/northing values and is widely adopted for GPS-based field data collection in forestry.

  5. In raster GIS analysis, what does 'cell resolution' determine?

    Answer: The geographic area represented by each pixel

    Cell resolution defines the ground area represented by each pixel; a 30m resolution means each cell covers a 30×30 meter area.

  6. A forester uses GIS to delineate watersheds for a riparian buffer study. Which DEM derivative is most critical for this analysis?

    Answer: Flow direction and flow accumulation grids

    Flow direction and flow accumulation grids derived from a DEM are the foundation for watershed delineation and drainage network mapping.

  7. What is the primary function of metadata in a GIS forest data layer?

    Answer: To document data source, accuracy, projection, and creation date

    Metadata documents the who, what, when, where, and how of a dataset, enabling users to evaluate data quality and fitness for use.