Drone technology for identification of healing forest spot at Kampung Cisamaya Mount Ciremai National Park

Abstract

Reconnecting people to nature through healing activities in the forest ecosystem is important. Various studies have shown that forest ecosystems dominated by tree vegetation have positive impacts on physical and psychological health. Not all locations in the forest ecosystem are suitable for healing forests (HF), but their suitability should be identified. Land slope, vegetation density, and easiness access to the site are some physical parameters of the land which are indicators for the development of HF site. Identification of suitable HF spots can be identified using drone technology and GIS. The research objective was the use of drones equipment in identifying potential sites for HF activities. The research site was Kampung Cisamaya in Mount Ciremai National Park. The type of drone used was the Phantom 4 Pro Obsidian equipped with a 20-megapixel RGB camera. The stages of research activities were data acquisition, processing, and analyzing from drone spatial data. Vegetation density was determined through GRVI (Green-Red Vegetation Index), while drone data analyzed the slope classification by DTM (Digital Terrain Model). The accessibility to the location was analyzed through data from the spatial map of the Kuningan Regency. The results found that the use of drones was effective in evaluating the suitability spots for HF activities. From this study can be concluded that the Cisamaya area was suitable for the development of HF activities due to physical parameters of flat to gentle slopes (0-15%), having dense vegetation, as well as the easiness access by people.