Urban Forest Maps

PhillyTreeMap is a participatory map database of trees in the greater Philadelphia region, built by the software design company Azavea with funding from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The map enables the public (as well as non-profit, and government organisations) to add information about trees, with the aim of creating an accurate, up-to-date inventory of Philadelphia's urban forest.

While participatory projects can contribute to the maintenance of urban forests , they can also reproduce existing inequalities. For example, Foster and Dunham (2015) compared PhillyTreeMap to a map of high resolution Lidar land cover data showing tree canopy in the area. Noting the disparity between the two maps and cross-referencing with demographic data, they highlight that more voluntary geographic data was added to PhillyTreeMap in neighbourhoods with a higher proportion of white residents, raising questions around how data inequities lead to the representation of certain geographies over others and might influence policy decisions around forests.

Urban Forest Visual maps all the trees in the City of Melbourne, with information about genus and age available on an open data portal. The City also uses LiDAR and orthophotography to calculate tree canopy cover across the city, with plans to increase canopy cover as part of climate change adaptations.

Each tree has an individual ID and residents and visitors to the site can email the City with any information or concerns they have about the tree. When the City introduced the email system in 2013, local government workers were taken by surprise as residents began to send emails not only to report problems but as letters to the trees themselves, sharing personal stories and thoughts. Email-a-tree became a popular phenomenon that spread beyond the City and was picked up by international media.

Forestree is tree management software aimed at local governments. The software enables Councils to record and maintain accurate data on individual trees and planting programmes, and to automate tree inspections. In one application in the City of Marion, Australia, Forestree has been used to create Marion – A Green City, an interactive map that allows users to access individual tree data (such as species, age, canopy, and height), and also to toggle different layers to see past and planned planting, watering, and tree works.

RegisTree (a collaboration between ETH Zürich and CalTech) uses deep learning to detect and inventory street trees from publicly available images of a city. Combining geo-referenced aerial and streetview images from Google Maps with map data, the RegisTree system identifies a tree's location, species, and approximate trunk diameter, and estimates its state of health. The aim of the system is to allow local councils managing urban trees to locate areas where trees need further maintenance, and where new trees could be planted. RegisTree has so far been piloted in Los Angeles.