Growing the Urban Forest: Using the OpenTreeMap Bulk Uploader

April 16, 2015

About Us

Deborah Boyer

OpenTreeMap Project Manager

dboyer@azavea.com

215.701.7506

Karissa Justice

OpenTreeMap Business Development

kjustice@azavea.com

215.558.6184

Agenda

• Intro to OpenTreeMap

• Using the OpenTreeMap Bulk Uploader Tools

– Tree Importer

– Species Importer

• Increasing Community Engagement through Existing

Data

• Future Updates to OpenTreeMap

• Questions

A collaborative platform for crowdsourced tree inventory,

ecosystem services calculations, urban forestry analysis, and

community engagement

OpenTreeMap History

• Urban Forest Map

• USDA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant Phase 1

• PhillyTreeMap, GreenprintMaps, Treezilla, and more

• Released as open source project

• USDA Phase 2 Grant

• Launch of OpenTreeMap Cloud

• Launch of TreeMapLA, yegTreeMap, and others

About Azavea

• Founded in 2000

• 40+ people

• Based in Philadelphia

• B Corporation

• Geospatial + web + mobile

– Software development

– Spatial analysis services

– User experience

Partners and Funders

Key Features of OpenTreeMap

• Map and explore tree data

• Add and edit trees online

• Track stewardship activities

• Add photos and leave

comments

• View eco benefits calculated

using i-Tree Streets

• Mobile apps for iPhone and

Android devices

• Export data as csv

• Customize data fields and other options

• Upload existing inventories and

update species list

Bulk Uploaders

Goals

• Enable organizations to easily upload and display

existing inventories

• Expand the species list on a tree map to better fit the

geography of the tree map

• Encourage community members to update existing

inventories

• Explore how groups can collaborate with users and

other organizations to fill in the gaps on their tree map

Uploading Trees and Species Lists

• Separate uploaders for tree inventories and species lists

• Available at all subscription levels

• OpenTreeMap upload templates for easy data

organization

• Support ecosystem services calculations for new species

• Support adding tree data to match your custom fields or

update existing trees

Adding New Trees and Species

How does it work?

• Format data to match the

OpenTreeMap templates

• Upload to your tree map via

the bulk uploader

management page

• May want to focus on

species first

• View imported data and

address any errors

• Add data to your tree map!

Tree Uploader

What data to upload?

• Only X, Y coordinates are required

• Planting site vs. tree data

• Strong encouragement to add species and diameter

• Options for tree present, date planted, external ID

number, tree height, and more

Trees and Custom Fields

• Support for adding

custom field data

• Match the data in your

existing inventory

• Add custom fields as new

columns in template

document

• Set up custom fields in

your tree map first

Review and Add Data

• Ready to Add – Data is organized and ready to go

• Errors – Review and edit species, date, or other fields

• Warnings – Trees may be too near an existing tree

• Successfully Added – Woohoo!!!

Updating Existing Data

• Warnings if tree located

near or at the same point

as another tree

• Use the OpenTreeMap

Plot ID to update existing

planting sites

• Supports regularly mass

updating tree map data

with info from a variety of

sources

From 0 to 12,000 in 2 Months

Species Uploader

How did those species get there?

• Tree map assigned to one or more i-Tree climate regions

based on geographic location

• Species list

automatically

added based on

that climate region

• Each species linked

to an i-Tree code to

calculate

ecosystem benefits

What data to upload?

• Only Genus and common name are required

• Strong encouragement to add i-Tree Code

• Options for species characteristics, URLs, and more

• Species must be on master species list before users can add a

tree with that species

i-Tree and Species

• Must include an i-Tree code

to calculate ecosystem

benefits for new species

• Code is based on climate

zone and an i-Tree Streets Species Codes spreadsheet

• Customize species based on

knowledge of your climate

region

• Please, please, please

review the documentation

Review and Add Data

• Ready to Add – Data is organized and ready to go

• Merge Required – Species already in the system and

data needs to be merged

• Errors – Review and edit fields

• Successfully Added – Woohoo!!!

Updating Existing Data

• Update existing species on your tree map

• Keep some existing values and update others

• Create a new species if necessary

A Master Custom Species List

Demo

Documentation

• Templates and help guides available at

https://www.opentreemap.org/resources/

• Help videos and explanatory posts available on the

OpenTreeMap blog -

https://www.opentreemap.org/blog/

• Email and phone support available at various

subscription levels

Community Engagement

Why Bulk Upload Trees?

• Make your tree map the central repository for data collected

from a variety of surveys on and offline

• Add data from different organizations, cities, partners, and

more to grow your map

• Capture information on tree planting events, adopt a tree

programs, and more

• Encourage citizen scientists to update your existing inventories

• Identify the holes in your inventory and prioritize additional

data collection

Why Update Species?

• Adjust the default species to fit your climate region

• Ensure that both common and unusual species are available

for users to add as a tree’s species

• Encourage citizen scientists to focus on identifying trees of a

particular species

• Create tree ID guides and other educational materials related

to your species list

• Support ecosystem benefit calculations for all species on your

tree map

How Do I Get People Involved?

• Tree mapping parties!

• Upload data for other

groups

• Combine stewardship

activities with data

updates

• Hold educational

campaigns to fill in the

gaps on the map Image from TreePeople Blog –

http://blog.treepeople.org/volunteer/2014/12/2014-

volunteer-thank-you

Upcoming Features

Regular Updates

• Social media sharing on

Facebook, Twitter, and Google

Plus

• Add trees to favorites

• Green infrastructure tracking

• Species export

• New advanced search filters

• Performance optimization

Future Features

• Additional social media sharing

• Custom fields on mobile apps

• More advanced search filters

• Custom cartography

• Custom species characteristics

Summary

• Adding existing inventories can encourage users to

update information and fill in the gaps.

• Expanding the species list can assist users in creating an

inventory that more accurately reflects your urban

forest.

• There’s a fine line between too much and too little

information.

• The bulk uploaders enable you to customize

OpenTreeMap to meet the needs of your organization.

Grow Your Urban Forest

Questions?

Contact Us

Deborah Boyer

OpenTreeMap Project Manager

dboyer@azavea.com

215.701.7506

Karissa Justice

OpenTreeMap Business Development

kjustice@azavea.com

215.558.6184

Exploring Collaborative Tree Inventory with OpenTreeMap

Growing the Urban Forest: Using the OpenTreeMap Bulk Uploader

April 16, 2015