Tree Plotter

Kommentare: With Tree Plotter we engage the public to plot private yard trees on our map, view public trees, and take self-guided tree walks. This enables us to better understand the composition of our urban forest and associated ecosystem benefits calculations. Not to mention, people will learn about the trees around them and hopefully become more informed about trees and advocate for planting and proper care. Tree Plotter also allows us to track our organization's tree planting and tree care activities on a digital map, for the first time! We also engage volunteers to survey trees in several programs, providing regular data on the status and needed care for young urban trees.

Vorteile: Our organization needed a platform to 1) engage the public in plotting trees, and 2)help us manage our programs better. We reviewed several tree mapping software programs/providers, and chose to subscribe to Plan-it Geo's Tree Plotter system because we felt that the team and products would best suit our needs for the present and near future. The customer service is fast and attentive, with a skilled team that works with us to craft a custom map that we can use effectively. The software is user-friendly and highly customizable, which helps us create a tool that does what we want and looks how we want it to look. They also have several add-on tools that you can purchase when you have funding, or leave out if you don't need it. Being able to pay for what you need and not what you don't was a nice model for us.

Nachteile: As Plan-it Geo grows and evolves, we hope they will continue to take our suggestions to allow us (clients) the ability to customize some things on our own. It really helps speed things up if we are able to make some changes to our Tree Plotter map structure without asking them first. I think the only thing that is still an issue is some slowness and incompatibility with various Apple devices. It works great on android devices I've used, but many of our users with iPhones can have a tougher time with loading the map/features quickly. Any other things we've expressed a desire to see changed has been taken into consideration and they've shown that they value our feedback and make changes based on client wishes - which is awesome!

Vorteile: I work in the Idaho Community Forestry Program. The State is supplying Tree Plotter at no cost to Idaho cities so that a statewide tree inventory is developed. It's easy to train volunteers or employees to use, it's cloud based including photos of the individual trees. And, the reports generated from inventory results offer much needed information that influences urban forestry management and planning decisions. The accuracy of the GPS coordinates is terrific, this helps not only for street trees, but for locating trees growing in parks and green ways. Data collection can be done using any device that has an internet connection, eliminating the need for expensive equipment such as a Trimble.

Nachteile: Tree Plotter uses Bing or Google maps. It's been my experience that one or the other contains more current imagery. But when you log on to collect data, Bing maps are the default map, even though Google maps may be more current. I'd like it if there were a way to set the default to whichever map was more useful. Also, at least in the Idaho Tree Plotter program, when collecting DBH information, only even inch measurements can be recorded. Measuring growth over time, especially in younger trees, requires measurements to the 1/10th of an inch to accurately assess how vigorous a tree is growing.