# Positioning Methods and the Use of Location and Activity Data in Forests
## 5 A Hierarchical Model for Processing and Sharing Data  
It is useful to consider a general model of how recently-available or improved positioning technologies and data topologies discussed in the early sections of this paper could be integrated to accommodate location-based services and big data themes in an IoT framework suitable for natural resource management in off-the-grid areas where data connectivity is otherwise limited. When reviewing technologies, it is evident that devices vary greatly in their capabilities, particularly with regard to bandwidth (data transfer capabilities), range, and accuracy. Although not explicitly addressed in this paper, these devices also tend to increase in cost as their bandwidth capacity increases. We propose a tiered model (Figure 15) in which low-bandwidth, low-cost, and short-range devices support functions locally in natural resources with smartphones serving as data hubs for individuals or equipment and data is exchanged among phones or tablets using miniaturized radios. Higher-order radios or devices with two-way satellite communications serve in upper levels of data transfer and processing, generally corresponding with higher levels of supervision and operational oversight. This model addresses and resolves important considerations for storing, processing and communicating big data through IoT to meet spatial and temporal considerations [14; 16; 220; 221; 222] in natural resources environments in a scalable way. At the lowest level in positioning and communication capabilities, Bluetooth and related technologies (e.g., BLE, ANT) can share data in limited ranges, typically between 30 m and 200 m [188; 189; 190; 188; 191; 189; 192; 227]. For many of these technologies, individual smartphones can serve as the hub for data collection, processing, and reporting; although in some cases, primary processing and generation of summary statistics may occur on wearable devices (e.g., an activity-tracking watch) or  
Figure 15: Conceptual model for hierarchical data collection, processing and communication in natural resources. In the lowest tier (Tier (4), data is collected from many resources and transmitted to the next tier (Tier (3) at very short ranges. At higher tiers (Tier 2 and (1), the number of resources decreases, but requisite bandwidth and range increases, as large amounts of data must be summarized and communicated across longer distances. other sensors. In natural resources, these devices could collect and consolidate location or health data from the public, volunteers, or employees, such as wildland firefighters engaged on the fireline, loggers at individual timber harvesting operations, or a trail crew working in a remote wilderness area. At the next higher level are miniaturized radios that pair with smartphones to form mesh networks, such as those from goTenna(tm), Beartooth(tm), and similar commercial providers. These devices are capable of data transfer over much greater distances, curbed only by the number of users, their spacing, and topographic impacts on line-of-sight. Although bandwidth is limited for these types of devices, they are particularly well suited for accumulating small data packet deliveries from many resources, or, in turn, delivering small bits of critical information broadly to large numbers of individuals. Thus, data accumulated by several smartphones in lower levels can be transmitted, for instance, to a single crew supervisor. At one higher level are dedicated mesh data radios, such as those designed for military applications. Similar to miniaturized radios, these units have essentially unlimited, local range (e.g., greater than 25 km), depending on the number of users (nodes) in the mesh network; however, these purpose-built radios provide much greater bandwidth capabilities over those same ranges. Voice communication, video streaming, and other functions with higher data transfer rates are also possible.