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

Sun May 4 09:31:25 EDT 2014

Hello everyone!

Thanks a million to all who have been answering my questions. I plan on answering you all individually over the weekend, but I wanted the group to know that your perspectives and comments have been very useful. I plan on writing a summary report of all of the details you have shared as I am working with a committee seeking to provide recommendations for a more efficient inventory management system. The ultimate goal of this exercise is to compare cities, to see who's moving forward and what the challenges are. I see many parallels between your cities and mine. You are all doing superb work facing these challenges. Keep at 'er!

Here's a brief portrait of the situation in Montreal, Quebec.

1) What platform/system does your city use to manage its trees?
An in house Oracle-based system called Gestion des végétaux. GDV is an asset management system for trees developed by the city's specialized IT and Geomatics departments with continual collaboration from end users. This inventory was designed to provide a number of details such as the tree's species, location, size, landscape appraisal value and so forth. There are also fields to enter inspection dates, comments and work that needs to be done. The platform can be used to place orders for trees from the city's municipal nursery as well. This inventory can generate lists and various projects - unfortunately I do not know the program's complete range of capacities since I am a new end user.

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

In-house start to finish

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?

The program covers the entire pedigree of the tree along with its geospatial location. Comments and service request numbers can be entered in various fields. Follow up inspection dates can be planned and summaries of activities (projects) can be generated, for example for planting projects or massive removals.

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)?

Yes there is. With x and y coordinates, the tree can be plotted on a computer-based map. There is also a separate window that can be opened to physically place the tree in the correct spot using a drag and drop function over aerial images. Icons on the map, thereafter, indicate the position public trees.

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?

GDV was designed to interface with other programs, from what I understand. But it does so very poorly. It doesn't sync up well with our 311 call management software. It does, however, integrate reasonably well with our mapping system - the same system that includes information on lot numbers, snow removal circuits, the aqueduct network and so on.

There is also no i-Tree component. Since French is the official language in the workplace, our city cannot exploit English only software. A translated version must be available in order to utilize this tool.

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?

I was told that there was a device called the pocket pc back in the early days, but I don't believe there are any portable resources which are compatible with our inventory and needs at the moment. In my borough, we're still on a paper system. We go out in the field, fill out a data sheet with all of the necessary information and return to the office to close the service ticket, write up a work order, fill in any register we may need to keep track (ex: Excel based list of tree removals) and lastly, enter the new data in the system. Sometimes, we have no choice but to log to the data in 4 or 5 different places. I would like to see a more harmonized system in which we can cut the number of steps in half.

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

No. For street trees, we'll take a series of measurements to position the tree vis-a-vis the street and adjacent buildings.  Once back at the office, in front of the computer we'll enter all of this information in the system. For parks, we go out with a paper plan of the park and plot each tree on the map by hand, then return to the office, open up our aerial imagery and try to situate the tree in comparison to our paper notes.

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?
Training : a game of tag between IT, the end users and central services is currently underway. It has not been decided who should be responsible for training new end users and under what capacity. Presently, new end users rely on veteran or expert users to help answer questions. These expert users are inspectors and technical officers so they have their own tasks and responsibilities to deal with. Therefore, they cannot be considered a reliable lifeline for new users. There is a huge disparity of knowledge between boroughs and individuals at the moment.

Troubleshooting : A shared task between the city's IT services and veteran end users. Everyone tries to help each other to the best of their capacity, but there is no personnel assigned to GDV. It's not uncommon to find an arborist or an IT technician working on the potable water network attempting to help a colleague deal with their tree inventory. When you have 10 to 15 new end users migrating their data and arriving at the same time, you can imagine what that may look like.

Development : I'm not in a position to say where we are with development, this is currently the big issue. Right now, the boroughs are uncovering problems and seeking solutions. Part of the reason why I contacted you all is to get a sense of what our inventory could be like. With this information, we can figure out a plan to help us get there.

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

Major problems
- Uncertain future for GDV - who will be responsible for training new users and developing the system?
- Budgetary constraints and lack of resources to keep the system to up date city-wide, where will the money come from to support this system?
- Language constraints - the software must be available in French, the official language in the workplace. Besides GDV in Montreal, only one company that I know of, offers tree inventory management software in French.
- Doubling, tripling of work to enter data into various systems and tables - need to harmonize the paperwork

Until next time,

Meagan Hanna, MA.
meagan.hanna at mail.mcgill.ca
________________________________
From: CANUFNET [canufnet-bounces at list.web.net] on behalf of Art Maat [art.maat at histree.net]
Sent: April 30, 2014 5:56 PM
To: Canadian Urban Forest Network
Cc: CANUFNET at list.web.net
Subject: Re: [CANUFNET] FW: In-house Tree Management Databases and Big Cities

Hello to all of you.  We are a member of CANUFNET and we are a for profit company.

Based on the information flow in the last few weeks I feel there is value to be part of this discussion and would like to answer the questions below and introduce you to our product called HisTREE.

HisTREE is a privately owned company, based in Edmonton Alberta, that provides tree data management solutions for contractors, nurseries, consultants and municipalities. We have several clients each uniquely using the product for their fully customized application processes.

We are currently in pilot and testing with our most prominent client, the New York City parks department, implementing a simple process of monitoring the contractors who plant and maintain their trees being planted as part of the MillionTreesNYC.org<http://MillionTreesNYC.org> program.

Our product establishes each tree as a unique identity in the cloud, using visible unique QR tag hanging on the tree or by using GPS tree location once established.  This allows the user to assign multiple attributes to each tree including all horticulture related tree assessments. As well any ongoing assessments inspections or maintenance data is captured and recorded to each tree individually in a recorded task event.

Each and every data capture event for each tree is moved to the cloud in real time and continues to grow in volume giving you true traceability and lifecycle management for your trees. All field collected data is transmitted to the cloud database or retrieved by simply scanning the tree tag or selecting the tree map pin within the software interface.

All data capture events, which include the GPS location information, are fully compatible with any GIS or ERP platform on the market including ESRI, Geo Media, Hansen, SAP, Bentley etc. Data transfer occurs via mutual IP based API integration or in simple spreadsheet import or export routines.

As an example the pilot in NYC included importing existing individual tree attributes and GIS location data into HisTREE which is now being used or interfaced with as unique identities to record watering and maintenance events performed by the contractors. We will also be exploring the existing functionality of allowing NYC residents to "personally adopt a tree" using the same GPS interface right from their smart phone.

The best thing about this product is that it is 100 % cloud or browser based and the recording device is already in your pocket!  Which all means NO IT Department involvement required if used as a stand alone solution.

The questions below are answered as they relate to the HisTREE product rather than as a municipal user.

On Apr 26, 2014, at 11:29 AM, "Meagan Hanna, Miss" <meagan.hanna at mail.mcgill.ca<mailto:meagan.hanna at mail.mcgill.ca>> wrote:

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?

HisTREE.net<http://HisTREE.net>

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

HisTREE is owned and was developed by a green industry contractor.  Built for industry by industry.

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?

HisTREE allows for any tree assessment data capture including service requests etc.

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)?

Yes. Any pre or post filtered data can be viewed in mobile tablet interface within the product, or a web browser both in a Google or Apple maps interface. As well all GIS and data event information can be exposed via API to all the big GIS names.

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?

HisTREE can be totally run on its own for a small or large municipality with NO existing GIS system or training, or it can be used in seamless bi directional integration with the large GIS infrastructure management providers.

HisTREE can be implemented by your forestry departments and up and running for you in days at a low cost. When compared to the involvement required to implement and integrate with the large GIS providers think mainframe computers versus smartphones and you have an accurate picture of ease of use.

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?

Any inspector or consultant or city worker has access to any data in any level of permissions as deemed appropriate by admin. Work orders can be generated in field in real time.

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

HisTREE natively uses the onboard GPS functionality of the smartphone or tablet. This GPS positioning can be a little sketchy in terms of accuracy. If sub meter accuracy is required a third party Bluetooth device that sits on your belt with a small puck size GPS antenna on your head is available and provided by HisTREE. This will give you construction as-built quality data from your smart phone totally eliminating the requirement of a survey crew to capture the GPS locations. This third party device is only needed the first time a tree GPS location needs to be captured.

Additionally and if required for any reason, each tree GPS location information can be edited in our browser interface.

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

There is much more to the HisTREE product in features and functionality than what has been discussed here. This is truly cutting edge functionality put into the hands of your seasonal staff or senior foresters.

Current app functions in iOS only. Android, Windows Mobile and Blackberry by end of Q2 2014.

Contact sales at histree.net<mailto:sales at histree.net> for more info and a webinar.

Art Maat
President
HisTREE.net<http://HisTREE.net>.

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>
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