[CANUFNET] Tree Inventory Software

[Alice Casselman via CANUFNET]

After 20 years of tree inventories in forests on open spaces using Smithsonian protocols and ACER educators on public lands and a variety of software programs, we 
reverted to XLS for data to be collected,exported and shared to many programs. 
Fieldworkers, interns trained volunteers of all ages can use Excel to collect accurate data and allow easy analysis for al parameters of your choice
Please see www.acer-acre.ca 
Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 21, 2018, at 11:22 AM, Peter Wynnyczuk via CANUFNET <canufnet at list.web.net> wrote:
> 
> Hi Shane,
> Although this is not specific to any software....from Ontario.
> A key consideration is the existing municipal payroll/work tracking system used
> by the municipality which is usually multi departmental. 
> To find a program that can inventory and provide work proposed and completed
> data, that can be folded/shared into the existing payroll/work tracking system
> is key. If your engineering section is noting trees in their projects is another
> source of data to build on.
> 
> In other words if you compile data on the trees, resident driven request of
> student inventory based,  and later any work carried out, if it can be inputted
> such that you update the tree inventory and tree management program at the same
> time as you fulfill any staff time  associated/work order with this process to
> payroll. 
> It completes many tasks with integrated software that reduces the burden of
> updating several programs, Inventory data, mapping, work completed, staged work,
> (removal, stumping, planting), and payroll.
> In my experience, IT Staff, with respect,  generally do not know the extent of
> tree data/work/costing needed for a municipal operations as it is a complex
> tracking system not much different the fleet operations where you have moving
> parts around a vehicle maintenance process. With vehicles the life of the work
> around it is usually up to ten years of tracking, with trees we go far beyond
> that. 
> 
> If you are communicating any work to the homeowner on the work on trees is a
> policy decision that can enable building relationships with the clients. If you
> decide to carry out work without notification you can be open to
> misunderstanding of what was requested and what was done. 
> If you have a call centre, then their program would have to tie into the process
> to allow for tracking of requests and work completions.
> 
> As each municipality generally has different inventory/work order systems based
> on when they were implemented, it is a challenge to try to marry the various
> management programs together.
> 
> I noticed you have a asset management strategy to be put in place which I sense
> would be interdepartmental in scope so this may be a great vehicle to engage the
> needs of other departments and yours in a cohesive approach.
> 
> One key aspect is your discussion timing on IT programs implementation, such
> that they don't come to you in June and say we can talk about inventory, when
> you have limited time and rushed process. 
> A few thoughts hopefully that will help.
> Sincerely,
> Peter Wynnyczuk
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> ---------- Original Message ----------
>> From: Shane Tillapaugh via CANUFNET <canufnet at list.web.net>
>> Date: January 19, 2018 at 6:51 PM
>> 
>> 
>> Hello fellow CUFN listserv subscribers,
>> 
>> The City of Courtenay (on Vancouver Island, British Columbia) Parks
>> Division has recently begun to devote more resources to the management of
>> trees in our city.  This has included the creation of a City Arborist
>> position a couple of years ago, and more recently we have undertaken a
>> street tree inventory (+/- 2,000 specimens).  As you might observe, our
>> urban forestry program is in its infancy.  The inventory of our street
>> trees has constituted a giant leap forward for our program.  We can now
>> view our trees and their attributes using ArcGis mapping software.
>> However, tree attributes are not easily updated, we cannot easily produce
>> reports reflecting the condition or composition of our trees, nor can we
>> easily produce work orders from the inventory data.  Furthermore, we would
>> also like a flexible suite of software options to assist in our management
>> and care of the mature forest interface throughout our municipality.  We
>> are currently researching options for map based tree inventory software
>> that also has an integrated work management system.  So far I have looked
>> into TreePlotter and ArborPro and both seem to meet most if not all of our
>> needs.  Any information on your municipal experiences with these or other
>> software would be much appreciated.
>> 
>> 
>> Thanks kindly,
>> 
>> 
>> Shane Tillapaugh
>> 
>> 
>> City of Courtenay
>> 
>> Acting City Arborist – Parks Div.
>> 
>> ISA Certified Arborist PN-5981A
>> 
>> ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualified
>> 
>> *Stillapaugh at courtenay.ca* <Stillapaugh at courtenay.ca>
>> 
>> *Tel. 250.338.1525*
>> 
>> *Cel. 250.703.6670*