Reflecting on a Year of Innovation and Growth, PlanIT Geo Looks Ahead to Ambitious Goals in Urban Forestry Technology and Consulting

March 17, 2025  | Ian Hanou, Founder & CEO, PlanIT Geo

As we move further into 2025, I want to take a moment to reflect on our journey over the past year, acknowledge the recent challenges facing our industry, share our vision for the year ahead, and express thanks to all the hard working people involved in achieving our vision.

At PlanIT Geo, our mission remains steadfast: to be the premier provider of urban green space technology solutions globally. Through innovation, expertise, collaboration, and a humble, help-first mindset, we continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in urban forestry software, consulting, and green infrastructure technology. We cannot thank you enough for being loyal customers and giving us the chance to serve you and innovate by your side.

A Year of Innovation and Growth

2024 was a landmark year for PlanIT Geo, with major advancements in the TreePlotter™ software suite, our expert urban forestry consulting services, events, new customers around the world, and a first-ever U.S. nationwide urban tree canopy project. A few highlights:

TreePlotter Software Suite

• We’re at 18 million trees hosted in our software across 21 countries … and counting!
• We built a new Photo Viewer to better organize images of trees, inspections, and work records, and a Tree Insights report which incorporates the 10-20-30 tree diversity rule.
• We released TreePlotter Projects, a set of features which integrates TreePlotter INVENTORY and TreePlotter CANOPY. It provides enhanced project tracking, mapping, localized canopy goal setting, and collaboration tools.
• We completed the first-ever high-resolution, national baseline urban tree canopy assessment, leading to the launch of TreeCanopy.US in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Arbor Day Foundation. If you haven’t yet, access this tree-mendous resource at TreesAtWork.org.
• We welcomed new U.S. customers such as California ReLeaf, new State Forestry agencies (Wyoming and Kansas), Boulder County, Colorado, cities like Portland, Oregon and Concord, California, and private sector companies like CBRE, SavATree, Canopy Service Partners, and more.
• Internationally, we launched a new partnership with Dasotec in Spain and continued to grow with other partners in Romania, the Netherlands, Uruguay, Australia, and the United Kingdom. A few TreePlotter customer highlights:

 -New departments in Manningham, Australia began managing assets such as mowing, landscaping, playspaces, benches, and bushland.

-Arborists in Wollongong City Council collect tree inspection data to manage plantings, monitor tree condition, and identify and remediate defects.

-Urban Forest Training of Australia uses TreePlotter in two ways: for students to learn how to prepare an Arboricultural Impact Assessment, and as a service to assess trees near critical infrastructure or schools, and trees of historical and ecological significance.

-West Northamptonshire (U.K.) set and is monitoring a canopy target through a new tree strategy with our partner Goetra Villa, Ltd.

-Manchester City Council (U.K.) is migrating from an internal GIS system and importing data on 21,000 trees to manage.

• And lastly, numerous performance, architectural, configurations, implementations, and security fixes done behind the scenes by our development and support teams!

Urban Forestry Consulting Services

• 100% of city councils approved 25 Urban Forest Management Plans (UFMPs) or tree protection ordinances, which codify our results and recommendations into long-lasting city policies and comprehensive / general plans.
• We conducted dozens of customized tree canopy assessments across the United States and Canada, including canopy growth scenarios for cities and nonprofits aiming to achieve ambitious canopy cover targets.
• We created a woody biomass interactive dashboard in collaboration with Cambium Carbon to evaluate woody biomass removal potential in Larimer County, Colorado.
• With great pride, each member of our Field Services team has now obtained their ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ), diversifying our services and reinforcing our commitment to industry-leading best practices. They also surveyed 310,000 trees across 13 states in 2024 alone!

Expanding Our Reach

In 2024, we made notable progress in expanding our reach, delivering valuable content, and fostering collaborations.

• Leadership: We welcomed Stephen Bay as COO & President, ushering in an exciting new chapter.
• Engagement & Events:
  • Launched TreePlotter Tuesdays to support ongoing user learning.
  • Hosted our 1st Annual TreePlotter User Conference, a 14-hour virtual event highlighting global user stories. Our 2nd User conference is coming up on April 1, 2025.
  • Held 11 webinars with 2,906 attendees, covering topics like CRM integration, the 3+30+300 Rule, and equity-based urban forest planning.
  • Exhibited at 22 conferences, including sponsorships with the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), Urban & Community Forestry Society, and the Arbor Day Foundation’s Partners in Community Forestry conference.
• The PlanIT Geo Family: We grew, literally, with two new babies and three wedding engagements!

Current Industry Challenges

As you’re well aware, events this year have brought significant uncertainty to urban and community forestry programs across the U.S. The federal government’s pause on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) funding programs and U.S. Forest Service Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) grants had a deep and immediate impact on countless organizations, businesses, and professionals dedicated to advancing urban forestry and climate resilience. Many of our clients and partners are facing funding gaps that threaten critical work in combating extreme heat through tree planting, developing tools and plans to improve urban tree canopy management, as well as wildfire risk mitigation in the wildland-urban interface. PlanIT Geo spent much of the last year positioning to deliver maximum value from these federal funds and had secured numerous contracts for impactful work, most of which are now paused.

At PlanIT Geo, we want to acknowledge the hardship this abrupt change has caused. However, we remain committed to supporting our industry in any way we can and will always advocate for continued investment in green infrastructure.

We remain committed to supporting our industry in any way we can and will always advocate for continued investment in green infrastructure.

-Ian Hanou, Founder and CEO, PlanIT Geo

Looking Ahead: 2025 and Beyond

Despite these challenges, the work that we do is more important than ever, including demonstrating the value and impacts that funding for urban and community forestry programs provide through storytelling. Everyone deserves to enjoy the benefits of tree canopy, from combatting extreme heat to providing access to nature and urban wildlife. We remain focused on advancing our mission and providing the best possible tools, data, and insights for urban forestry professionals.

This year, we are setting our sights on our most ambitious goals yet:

• We’ll be launching “TP (TreePlotter) Mobile”, a new web app designed to provide a seamless, best-in-class user experience with a real-time connection to the data in your current TreePlotter application. Releases will be iterative with frequent new functionality rolling out steadily this year and into 2026.
  – Initial use cases (late Q3 2025) will include tree plotting, data entry for standard and most custom data fields, “Load Last”, and photos. Apps with custom, automated “triggers” will be addressed later.
  – After the initial launch of TP Mobile, we’ll expand into simplified, “quick data entry” interfaces for work maintenance (i.e. Work Records) and then tree inspections, simplifying work management and ensuring users can quickly and easily track tree maintenance (planting, watering, removals, pruning) using phones in the field with as few clicks as possible. We will also be developing a new work management viewer for desktop use for managers and supervisors to schedule, assign, view, summarize, and report on tree work operations.
  – We are known for our ability to customize TreePlotter almost endlessly. With TP Mobile, we are striving for industry-leading, standardized workflows for maximum efficiency at the outset, and to put TreePlotter’s configurability into the hands of our users more over time.
  – Look for communications from us beginning in Q2 regarding initial testing and availability!
• We will enhance TreePlotter Projects based on early-adopter feedback and add a dashboard to illustrate rates of tree planting survival over time, not just the total number of trees planted.
• We will strengthen our consulting and field services using GIS technologies, emerging mobile LiDAR imaging sensors, and remote sensing to help cities protect mature trees, plan and mitigate for wildfire events, plant where new canopy can deliver the most benefits, and improve urban forestry management through data-driven decision-making. We will unveil exciting new automation in tree analysis from street-level mobile LiDAR and 360° imaging very soon.
• Later in the year and into 2026, we will be expanding TreePlotter’s API capabilities to improve interoperability with other GIS and asset management systems. Our work on TP Mobile is a prerequisite for this and will put us in a position to integrate with other systems.
• Introducing new data analysis and tools to support the “3+30+300 Rule”, helping cities enhance urban tree canopy and improving public awareness, policy, and outreach.
• Hosting our 2nd Annual TreePlotter Virtual User Conference, bringing our software users together across the globe.
• Hosting a Trees & Tech Summit in conjunction with Partners in Community Forestry Conference. This full day, in-person event will focus on current and emerging data and technology in urban forestry.

Executing on these priorities will require focus, discipline, and a commitment to constant innovation and customer collaboration. We realize we can’t do it all and be all things to everyone. So if you find we seem to be saying “no” more than “yes”, just know that it is because we’re ultra-focused on delivering on the promises above.

Our Commitment to You

At the heart of everything we do is our commitment to our customers and partners. Your feedback drives our innovation and shapes the future of our products and services. While the funding landscape may be shifting, our dedication to urban greening and climate resilience remains unchanged. In 2025, we are doubling down on customer engagement, ensuring that every enhancement we make serves your operation’s needs and helps build a greener, more resilient future. We will continue to work closely with you to find creative solutions, adapt to new challenges, and build a greener, healthier future together.

On behalf of the entire PlanIT Geo team, thank you for being part of this journey with us. We are in this together, remain excited for what’s ahead, and look forward to another year of collaboration and impact.

Here’s to a successful and resilient 2025!

Ian Hanou
Founder & CEO
PlanIT Geo

Sincerely,
Ian Hanou, PlanIT Geo Founder & CEO

PlanIT Geo is 10 years old and we are looking forward to the next 10! We rely on our extensive network of software users and urban forestry and arboriculture industry experts to develop and improve our software and services. We would love to hear from you!