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New Tree Mapping Software Refashions Urban Tree Maintenance04-12-07 | News

New Tree Mapping Software Refashions Urban Tree Maintenance

Mapguide tracks the exact location, and other detailed information, about thousands of public trees in San Francisco

Over the last few years, cities all over the country have sought to improve their urban tree canopy for beneficial effects such as improved air quality, rainwater absorption, and overall aesthetics. Though it?EUR??,,????'???s almost impossible to find fault in the idea of planting a tree, there are important things to consider such as who will take care of the trees and maintain the foliage from overrunning sidewalks or street signs. In the past, city officials or volunteers have set out to service the trees guided by paper forms and old maps. Often, the trees would be missing or incorrectly mapped to begin with.

Recently in San Francisco, MapGuide, a new open-source database, was launched, giving anyone access to detailed information about 140,000 public trees. The software tracks quite a lot of details about the trees such as type, location, permit records, parasites, pruning issues, and graffiti tags.

The software was developed by the non-profit Friends of the Urban Forest, the San Francisco Bureau of Urban Forestry, and designed by the software company Autodesk. It is estimated that MapGuide will provide the city an annual savings of $41,000. MapGuide can calculate the environmental and fiscal impact of each tree?EUR??,,????'??+ such as how much carbon dioxide a tree will absorb over its lifetime or how many dollars a tree will raise property value. Additionally, MapGuide has been used to compare excavation plans with schematics of a town’s underground wires and pipes. It can also stream data to Google Earth.

Calculating landscape maintenance on the computer, such as irrigation, is nothing new for municipalities. Yet calculating the fiscal and environmental impact of landscaping to this degree might bring a new edge to urban forestry and landscaping in the years to come.

Source: Wired.com