Learn more about the newest feature in the TreePlotter™ software suite.

September 1, 2021  | Alec Sabatini

It’s not enough to just have a webpage though. There is a high bar for capturing and holding anyone’s attention online. Information on the internet needs to be easily accessible, intuitive, and interesting. The best way to meet those requirements for urban forestry is through an interactive, online tree map. These tools give residents a navigable, visual display of where trees are in their community and at the click of a button they can access information like species, size, and eco-benefits for the whole forest or on an individual tree basis.

And why is that important? Well, advocacy starts with education. Interactive tree maps are a potent method for building public awareness and by extension, public support for urban forestry programs.

To meet this modern need, we built a new core feature called the Community Engagement Map. The Community Engagement Map (CEM) provides clients with a simple, public-friendly version of their TreePlotter™ INVENTORY application that can be accessed as an embedded map on a live webpage or as a stand-alone website. The more the community engages with the map, the more the appreciation and recognition of your urban forestry programs will grow.

What can the Community Engagement Map show?

Asset Map

Our newest edition of the CEM allows you to display multiple layers of points and polygons stored with your TreePlotter INVENTORY application. For example, users can toggle between a layer of tree points, to a layer of park locations, to a layer of playground equipment. If desired, work records and photos can be shown for each asset, so users can see the hard work involved in maintaining their favorite public spaces.

Why utilize a Community Engagement Map?

At its core, a Community Engagement Map is designed to share tree data in a simple and clean format everyone can understand. A typical tree inventory often includes more information than the public would be interested in. The Community Engagement Map is configurable so clients can share a limited version of their inventory that highlights the data they most want the public to see.

Here are three of the top benefits of a CEM:

Awareness

Folks often don’t think twice about the trees shading their sidewalk or lining their route to work. We forget about our surroundings all the time, focused on a million other things. A Community Engagement Map is a platform to draw the public’s attention back to their surrounding environment by prompting them to look at and then look up their urban trees. Once that habit starts, it can be hard to shake.

Education

A CEM helps to educate community members about the urban trees right in their neighborhood or hours away. Depending on how much tree data is available, viewers can explore the trees in their area, the neighboring town, or around the state. It is an excellent way to build the connection in the public’s mind between urban trees and the myriad of ecosystem services they provide. It’s also another place to share about ongoing urban forestry programs and initiatives.

At its core, a Community Engagement Map is designed to share tree data in a simple and clean format everyone can understand.

Who can benefit from a Community Engagement Map?

Local, County, and State Departments

Government agencies that have urban forest responsibilities have a lot to gain from a Community Engagement Map. Maintaining public trees also requires maintaining a relationship with the public. Residents can be a major ally for urban forestry efforts, providing a pool of volunteers for public events and more eyes in the community on the lookout for hazardous trees. Additionally, growing public appreciation for the urban forest through a CEM can help when advocating for budget increases.

Homeowner Associations (HOAs)

Homeowner associations are tasked with providing residents with well-maintained outdoor landscaping but can get pushback from homeowners when monthly dues are secured for common space maintenance. Residents often aren’t aware of the value brought to their home through tree and asset care efforts. The Community Engagement Map provides HOAs with a simple tool that can be readily shared with homeowners to educate them on the value of their trees. With advanced features, you can share the eco-benefits of their property trees and all trees within the association’s limits to demonstrate why tree and landscape maintenance is a significant portion of their dues. Resident can also consult the CEM to see recently completed or planned work for their trees and outdoor assets.

Universities

Colleges and universities often invest heavily in the look of their campus, and for good reason. A beautifully landscaped campus is a powerful selling tool for prospective students and an important amenity for current students and faculty. Community Engagement Maps allow universities to demonstrate how their investments in campus landscaping benefit the students. They can also act as an educational resource and be integrated into environmental coursework and student projects.

Private Tree Care Businesses

Private tree care businesses are always looking for ways to differentiate themselves from the competition. A Community Engagement Map is a new way to stand out from the pack and offer a unique value add to clients. If you have clients in any of the aforementioned categories, you can see how offering a Community Engagement Map along with your tree care services could make the difference in winning a bid.

For example, Ahlum and Arbor is a tree care company that has provided Central Ohio with top notch service for over 40 years. They completed a tree inventory for the Village of Marble Cliff, a tight-knit suburb of Columbus with a lot of interest and pride in their tree-lined streets. Marble Cliff wanted a way to share the inventory with their residents. Ahlum and Arbor embedded a CEM of the inventory on their website, allowing residents to interact with the information and see the utility of an urban forest inventory.

What are the essential features of the Community Engagement Map?

Filterable Results

Online tree engagement maps can host a mountain of data. The easiest way for users to organize that information and find answers to their questions is with filters. Any informational field can be set up to have the map color coded by that attribute. Users can then toggle through different attributes and see how the map trends change. Also included is a “Show top five” option, so users can quickly find the superlative trees in the categories of their choosing.

We would be happy to have a more specific conversation about how a Community Engagement Map could work for your business or agency. Please get in touch to learn more.