A part from field surveys, the huge amount of information derives also from photo-interpretation (black and white digital orthophotos), public database and interviews. Besides dendrometric data, that include deadwood measurements, the forest inventory collects information on biodiversity, the protection status of forests, accessibility, recreational use of forests, stand health, soil erosion, and others.

The Italian national forest inventory benefits from the use of advanced technology:
• Photo interpreters used Geographic Information System (GIS) functions implemented within the SIM (Mountain Information System), a national public service with several geographic information strata (cadastral, digital elevation model, land use, ownership, etc.);
• Field crews use Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to locate sample plots in the field and mobile GIS techniques to manage geo-referenced data;
• Field crews are equipped with a double client/server architecture: a handheld computer (client) to record data in the field and a laptop computer (client/server) to check, complete, and transfer data safely to the central server.
• Operational softwares built by standard packages and specifically developed to guarantee data quality.
• The informative system allows remote checks of collected data for data quality monitoring and also for corrections.
• Results are made available to all people interested in a short space of time periodically publishing on the official website.