[CANUFNET] FW: In-house Tree Management Databases and Big Cities

Tue Apr 29 09:45:48 EDT 2014

Hi Meagan,

This is the process in the town of Oakville.

Q.1) What platform/system does your city use to manage its trees?
A.1) CityWorks asset management software developed by AZTECA. ESRI Canada is a partner in Business with Azteca.

Q 2.)  Is your city's tree database managed through an in-house program or through software developed by an external company or organization?
A. 2) The software developed by an external company (Azteca) but database are managed by our IT Department and forestry Section.

Q. 3) Does this program cover location, species, size class and other characteristics only or do you use it to manage your work orders, services requests and summaries of activities as well?
A. 3) Yes, all of those attributes and more. We applied all of the 17 tree attributes as recommended in I-tree street (USDA’s software) and customized it by adding more attributes to meet our needs.

Q. 4)  Is there a geo-spatial component too? (ex: can you position and view your city's trees on a spatial database/computer-based map)?
A. 4) Yes. It is a G.I.S. based inventory with geo-spatial component.

Q. 5) Is your tree inventory kept in a standalone program or is this information integrated with other programs such as your city's mapping data, asset management system or work management system (311 call log, service request follow-up etc.) ? Basically, does your tree database interface with other programs or is it independent from all?
A. 5) Our inventory feeds our asset management software. Our customer service (service Oakville-311) also uses our tree inventory database through web map services to respond to the citizen’s requests.

Q. 6) Do your city's inspectors, arborists or foresters have access to the database while in the field through a portable computer, tablet or other device? If so, can you respond to citizen requests and generate work orders in the field or do you have to complete those steps and close your ticket once back at the office?
A. 6 ) Yes they do. Our inspectors have the capability of using the tablet and complete the steps in the field. We started providing our arborists who perform operational duties and our contractors to have the tablet and do the same. The hardware have been purchased and we are in the training and transition period to fulfill this in 2014.

Q. 8) Second, if your city uses software to manage its trees, I would love to know how your city manages this program. Which department(s) is (are) responsible for training, troubleshooting and development?
A. 8) It is a joint effort between Forestry and IT. We, in Forestry, hired a forestry information analyst who has forestry education and knowledge and understands forestry’s business process and have extensive G.I.S. and spatial analysis background. He assists as the first reference in all of the three above aspects.

Q. 9) Are any of the three abovementioned aspects a problem in your municipality at the moment?
A. 9) The constraint is more shortage of resources and the high volume of work which sometimes causes delay in the response time.

I hope this answers your questions.

Thanks,

From: CANUFNET [mailto:canufnet-bounces at list.web.net] On Behalf Of Sherry Boerefyn
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2014 10:25 AM
To: CANUFNET at list.web.net; meagan.hanna at mail.mcgill.ca
Subject: Re: [CANUFNET] FW: In-house Tree Management Databases and Big Cities

Hi Meagan,

Here's an answer from The City of Edmonton.

1) We use a program called GEO Media to input data onto the City's spacial map. GEO Media is similar to ArcView. We are just starting to use Davey Tree Keeper as well as a work management tool.

2) GEO Media and Davey Tree Keeper were both developed by outside, but were customized by or IT Department.

3) The attributes collected are customizable. We collect Species, location DBH and other things last pruned date, date planted and near by utilities. You can customize both programs to suite your needs.

4) Both programs use spatial maps and we add our aerial photos. We use these photos to populate the tree location. We find that works as well as GPS.

5) Our data is accessible to all GEO Media users in the city, but 311 is not a user. It could be accessed on our Open Data site by anyone, including the public.

6) Geo Media is accessed in the field by the Tree Inventory staff. Davey Tree Keeper can be accessed by all City staff with wifi and a login to our page. The Inventory team prefers a laptop and others use tablets like iPad.

7) No GPS. But you can use it for populating data if you like with GEO Media.

8) Our IT department is responsible for all things GEO Media in Edmonton. The areas using the program train their users. We are mandated to load all data onto a SLIM map. We all have read access to each other's data. Davey Tree Keeper IT dept. worked with ours to mesh up the attributes.

9) Over the past 3 years we have sometimes struggled to get our projects done with the huge volume of work our IT dept. handles. Sometimes, what they wanted to charge us was outside our tiny Forestry budget. But generally out IT people work hard to get us what we need. Davey Tree Keeper staff are very available.

The reason we are using 2 systems (data is synced each night) is for their different abilities. GEO Media has the ability to run multiple queries of data at the same time and you can create maps on it. Davey is more of a work management system. They also have a new app that looks promising for field staff.

Hope that helps.

On Mon, Apr 28, 2014 at 7:32 AM, Jeannette Wheeler <jeannette.wheeler at edmonton.ca<mailto:jeannette.wheeler at edmonton.ca>> wrote:
Hi Sherry,

Hope you had a good weekend, can you respond back on.

Thank you

Jenny Wheeler P.Biol.
Principal of Forestry
ISA Certified Municipal Arborist
780-442-0224<tel:780-442-0224>

We Do As We Say

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Meagan Hanna, Miss <meagan.hanna at mail.mcgill.ca<mailto:meagan.hanna at mail.mcgill.ca>>
Date: Sat, Apr 26, 2014 at 11:29 AM
Subject: [CANUFNET] FW: In-house Tree Management Databases and Big Cities
To: "CANUFNET at list.web.net<mailto:CANUFNET at list.web.net>" <CANUFNET at list.web.net<mailto:CANUFNET at list.web.net>>

Greetings all,

I see that Jessica Tivy had recently put out a question on tree inventory technology and trends in Canada. I actually have a similar inquiry of my own. In fact, I have a set of precise questions about tree inventories in large Canadian (and American, for any neighbours on the line) cities. I am hoping to touch base with a few municipal practitioners with the goal of obtaining more information on how large cities manage their trees.

To be brief, I would like to draw some comparisons between the City of Montreal's in-house, Oracle system and tree databases from other big cities. To achieve this, I am interested in discussing specific programs with you. I am on the look-out for resource people who wouldn't mind offering some time for an email or telephone call.

If you're feeling generous, you may contact me directly by email at meagan.hanna at mail.mcgill.ca<mailto:meagan.hanna at mail.mcgill.ca>. Alternatively, if you feel some of this info could be useful for all, feel free to share your comments with the group.

My questions are as follows :

1) What platform/system does your city use to manage its trees?

2) Is your city's tree database managed through an in-house program or through software developed by an external company or organization?

3) Does this program cover location, species, size class and other characteristics only or do you use it to manage your work orders, services requests and summaries of activities as well?

4)  Is there a geo-spatial component too? (ex: can you position and view your city's trees on a spatial database/computer-based map)?

5) Is your tree inventory kept in a stand alone program or is this information integrated with other programs such as your city's mapping data, asset management system or work management system (311 call log, service request follow-up etc.) ? Basically, does your tree database interface with other programs or is it independent from all?

6) Do your city's inspectors, arborists or foresters have access to the database while in the field through a portable computer, tablet or other device? If so, can you respond to citizen requests and generate work orders in the field or do you have to complete those steps and close your ticket once back at the office?

7) Do you use GPS equipment in the field to manage tree inspections and correctly position your city's trees?

 If you have gotten this far, first off thank you so much!

8) Second, if your city uses software to manage its trees, I would love to know how your city manages this program. Which department(s) is (are) responsible for training, troubleshooting and development?

9) Are any of the three abovementioned aspects a problem in your municipality at the moment?

I know this email was a whopper. Thanks for taking the time to read it. I am looking forward to your feedback and hope to be in touch with you.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Meg

Meagan Hanna
Technical Officer - Horticulture and Arboriculture
City of Montreal
Work email : meagan.hanna at ville.montreal.qc.ca<mailto:meagan.hanna at ville.montreal.qc.ca>
Personal email : meagan.hanna at mail.mcgill.ca<mailto:meagan.hanna at mail.mcgill.ca>

--
Sherry Boerefyn, LAT
Tree Inventory Coordinator
Forestry, Beautification & Environmental Services
(780) 496-4693<tel:%28780%29%20496-4693>

We are proud to serve the public.

Jalil Hashemi, RPF
Supervisor, Forest Protection and EAB Management
Parks and Open Space
Town of Oakville | 905-845-6601, ext.3848 | f: 905-338-4227 | www.oakville.ca<http://www.oakville.ca/>

Vision: To be the most livable town in Canada
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
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