Custom Tools for Urban Forestry Nonprofits and Outreach July 12, 2016

Chris Peiffer
Presented by:
www.planitgeo.com | info@planitgeo.com 1
Plan-It Geo welcomes you to …
Custom Tools for Urban Forestry Non-Profits and Outreach
July 12th, 2016

 GIS/Remote Sensing for Forestry/NR
 Software: Urban Forest Cloud
• Web | Mobile | Desktop
• Subscription and custom apps
• 100+ clients/users
 Tree Inventory | Risk Assessment
 Urban Tree Canopy (UTC) Assessment
 i-Tree Ecosystem Services Analysis
 Management Plans
Color-Infrared
Natural Color
LiDAR-based Canopy Analysis
Our Services and Markets

Tree Plotter®
Canopy Planner®
Park Plotter®
Work Order Management®
Native Apps
Custom Apps
4www.planitgeo.com | info@planitgeo.com
Software Products Overview

1. Software Overview
Chris Peiffer (Plan-It Geo, Pennsylvania)
2. Branch Out Campaign
Erin Miller (City of Columbus, OH)
3. PlantMOreTrees
Tom Ebeling (Forest ReLeaf of Missouri)
4. Urban Forest Cloud
Dana Dentice (PA Horticultural Society)
5. Recap and Q&A
Webinar Agenda

Software Overview
Tech Requirements
• Subscription-based
• Web-browser and Cloud-based
• Web connection / URL
• No install or other software
• Mobile
• Tablets and smartphones
• Map-based
• Place tree points on imagery
• Variety of base maps to choose from
• Administration
• Manage users and permissions

Web/Mobile Tree Inventory Components
Tools Edit
Data Reports
Add / Move
Trees
Login
Legend
Data Table
Manager
Edit Tree Attributes Basic tree info

Tools in Tree Plotter
Bing
ESRI
Streets
Google
Multiple imagery base maps for different
situations (dense canopy, new development, or
navigating streets …)

Make Awesome Maps of Your Trees
• Print & save maps
• Customize labels
• Choose position of legend, scale bar, title
9

www.planitgeo.com | info@planitgeo.com
• Use GPS for orientation or to zoom in, not collection
• Click/Tap the map to add new tree point
• x/y coordinate is populated from aerial imagery
Adding Trees
10

• Use template then customize data fields and attributes
• Mass Update (New!)
• Export your data for free anytime
Data Collection & Management

Filter: find specific trees
• by Attribute Fields or Map Polygon (or both)
• Filters Apply to: the map, data table, exports,
and reports.

Summary Reports & Eco Benefits

Print Reports
• Custom order and table of contents
• Add qualitative comments

Work Order Management
• Add-on module to TP
• Track service requests / print work orders

Non-Profit
Organizations
What’s Unique?
• Custom applications
• Submitting managing
tree applications
• Tracking
events/projects
• Use of volunteers
and crowdsourcing
• Data collection fields
(schema)
• End-users

17
UP NEXT: Erin Miller, Environmental Steward,
City of Columbus, OH

Branch Out Columbus
& Tree Canopy Planning Tool

• 22% tree canopy (31,171 acres)
with 63% possible.
• Providing $12.1 million value
annually
• Under threat, EAB etc. anticipate
200,000 trees will be lost
• Low income areas have less trees
• 60,000 acres of land available
(PPA)- mostly private property
• Set a goal to 27% canopy by
2020= 300,000 medium sized
trees need planted.

Use Canopy Planner Tool to:
• Track tree plantings- connect to web form
• View tree canopy data spatially and download data
• View tree planting events and where trees have been planted and species
breakdown.
• Prioritize planting areas and identify neighborhoods for tree give-a-ways
• For example, we looked at neighborhood scale and selected those with
UTC of 15% or less; with a PPA veg. acreage over 100 and weight settings
of urban heat island as high priority; stormwater reduction, energy
savings, water quality as medium priority and connectivity as low priority.
• Reduced choices from 200+ neighborhoods to 7.

Erin Miller, Environmental Steward, Office of Environment
614-645-0815 or emmiller@columbus.gov

Next Up: Tom Ebeling, Community Forester, Forest ReLeaf of Missouri
Plant MOre Trees

Mapping Missouri’s Trees
Tom Ebeling
Community Forester

http://pg-cloud.com/PlantMOreTrees/
www.moreleaf.org
tom@moreleaf.org
Partners
Initial funding for this project was provided by a MDC TRIM
grant, with additional financial and in-kind support from
PlanIT-GEO
The City of Richmond Heights.
MCFC Communications Committee

A 20/20 Vision :
Plant One Million Trees by 2020
History
 Gene Brunk’s vision to plant
enough trees on 79% of the
vacant public space (2010
MDC 44 community survey).
 Create a means to get
communities involved and
excited about urban tree
planting!
 Similar initiatives in other
states and cities.
 Rallying cry for community
forestry!

Tree Plotting Tool
Problem: How do we keep track of a million trees?
Solution: Plant More Trees!
Created by Plan-It Geo based on Tree Plotter software
User friendly GIS interface

Tree Plotting Tool
Custom Functions:
Create projects and plot individual trees
Create an organization that projects can be attributed to
Add photos of tree and planting site
Visit sites on Google Street View
Record useful data (e.g. species, size at planting, stock type)
Produce statistics (diversity, health, ecosystem benefits)

Tree Plotting Tool
Fun map features!
Layers
Statistics
Map Sources

Ecosystem Services
& Benefits
* Based on i-Tree Tools

Techie Details
 Smartphone, tablet or desktop
 Web connection required
 Browser-based (URL); no install
 No GIS or GPS software needed
* Simplified interface on phones

Why YOUR Tree Counts!
Plant MOre Trees has Multiple Uses
Currently being used as inventory tool by Drury University in Springfield,
MO.

Why YOUR Tree Counts!
Plant MOre Trees has Multiple Uses
Creates a statewide “call to action” and provides incentives for the public
to plant thousands of trees.
The tool gathers valuable urban forest data for use now and in the
future.
The program is another way to build a network of tree advocates and
educate the public about community forestry.
FRM uses app to track new planting projects
Private businesses can use the tool for marketing purposes.

Next Up: Dana Dentice, PHS Plant One Million Manager
Urban Forest Cloud

https://pg-cloud.com/phs/
PHS Urban
Forest Cloud
Dana Dentice
Plant One Million Manager,
ISA Certified Arborist
ddentice@pennhort.org

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society connects
people with horticulture, and together we create
beautiful, healthy and sustainable communities.

PHS Urban Forestry
Programs
Since 1993, PHS Tree Tenders has
trained 4,500 volunteers to plant,
monitor (Tree Checkers) and care for
+20,000 trees
Multi-state initiative to educate and mobilize
volunteers throughout the region to plant, count
and tend trees with goal to restore canopy to 30%
Partnership to reverse the loss of tree cover in
southeast PA through Tree Tenders and
TreeVitalize Watersheds riparian plantings

PHS Tree Checkers
• Tracking tree health and stewardship data
• Tree care action and reminders
• Engaging homeowners
• Tree Tenders address issues (pruning, weeds)
• Goal: collect quality data to evaluate tree
performance and success of Tree Tenders
program

Before the Urban Forest Cloud…
• Word/pdf application forms
• Application and tree data manually entered
and maintained in many spreadsheets by
PHS, city street tree inspectors and Tree
Tenders groups
• Data not housed in a central location nor in
consistent format- lots of time prepping
data for archival and analysis!
• No easy way to join tree health data back to
planting records
• No system in place for systematically
tracking a tree’s maintenance or growth
history
• Not much of our tree data has been mapped
accurately or in one dataset

49
PHS Urban Forest Cloud
 Tabular/map interfaces
 Import/export/update
 Stats and reports
 Printing maps
 Advanced filter
 Interactive legend
 4 planting programs
 Historical and future data
on trees, projects and orgs
 Online application forms
A web-based and mobile device friendly application for collecting and
managing tree planting data using Tree Plotter software

User Groups
 Public can request trees or view map without
account
 3 login levels for users – different editing privileges
1. PHS admin, external admin (County
Conservation Districts)
2. Tree Tenders group leaders, Watershed grant
applicants
3. Other Tree Tenders, Phila Street Tree
Inspectors

51
 Apply for trees online
 Map tree location
 Electronic signature
 Automatic email notification
 Approve applications online
Online Forms

 Add species and event time/date via Look Up Table Editor
 Create tree species availability table (dynamic)
 Confirmation email
Tree Giveaways & Table Editor

PHS Tree Checkers
• Collecting tree health and
maintenance data via mobile device
• Save photos
• Long-term monitoring (growth rate)

Live Demo of Urban Forest Cloud

 Table, forms, tree points, and charts all integrated
 View, sort, filter, edit, data
 Manage and sort by field
 Filter by map
 Mass update
Data Table Management

4) Make updates
5) Import to app
3) Export spreadsheet
Import / Export Data
2) Protect/omit/order fields
1) Select trees

 Select multiple fields
 Or filter within the map
 View and edit trees that meet criteria
Advanced Filter

58
View trees by:
 Tree Tenders Group
 Species
 Status
 Season
Interactive Legend

Lessons Learned
 Document your data and workflow in detail
 Establish a consistent system for tracking bugs and updates
 The more simple your tool, the better for all
Enhancements
 Integrate City of Phila tree planting and parcel data
 Incorporate tree benefit summaries and forecasts
 User wizard tool (describes process)
 Tree species selection resources
 Enhanced for long-term tree monitoring
 Editable online forms and confirmation emails
 Attach documents to trees/projects
 Additional custom reports and charts

Dana Dentice
Plant One Million Manager, PHS
215-988-1618
Questions?

62
Recap & Resources
1. Tree Plotter main page, resources:
i. http://www.planitgeo.com/#!new-tree-plotter/c12n
ii. Recorded webinars
iii. Short how-to videos
iv. FAQs and user guide
v. Phone/email support
2. Quarterly Training Webinar
3. All webinars: http://www.planitgeo.com/#!webinars/cfzv
App URLs for Non-profits:
i. Demo App: https://pg-cloud.com/tpDemo
ii. Columbus, OH: https://pg-cloud.com/columbus/
iii. Forest ReLeaf: https://pg-cloud.com/PlantMOreTrees/
iv. Urban Forest Cloud: https://pg-cloud.com/phs/
i. Others:
Presenters app featured in SMA:
https://issuu.com/planitgeoissuu/docs/online_tree_planting-plan-it-geo_ia
Keep Indianapolis Beautiful:
https://pg-cloud.com/KIB/
www.planitgeo.com | info@planitgeo.com

Chris Peiffer, Urban Forester and Business Developer
(717) 579-9890 | chrispeiffer@planitgeo.com
Erin Miller, Environmental Steward, Columbus, OH
emmiller@columbus.gov
Tom Ebeling, Community Forester, Forest ReLeaf of MO
tom@moreleaf.org
Dana Dentice, PHS Plant One Million Manager
Plan-It Geo:
A geospatial technology, software, consulting,
and planning firm specializing in urban natural
resource management.
Info@PlanItGeo.com
www.planitgeo.com
THANK YOU! PRESENTATION CONTACTS:
63
Information for
ISA Credits will
be sent to all
attendees

Custom Tools for Urban Forestry Nonprofits and Outreach July 12, 2016

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