PlanIT Geo™ Press Release

TreePlotter™ CANOPY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PlanIT Geo™ and EarthDefine Partnering to Revolutionize Tree Canopy Studies
Data Now Processed Using Artificial Intelligence to Reduce Cost and Delivery Time via Subscription

ARVADA, CO, May 3, 2021–PlanIT Geo announced a new partnership with EarthDefine of Redmond, Washington to deliver tree canopy and land cover data analyzed using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning via a subscription service. The use of such new technology means dramatic reductions in cost and delivery times for canopy studies, which was traditionally a labor-intensive process performed on a project-basis.

Through this partnership, PlanIT Geo is able to provide clients immediate insights into trends in their canopy coverage by incorporating data provided by EarthDefine into the TreePlotter™ CANOPY software platform. EarthDefine’s AI-performed canopy analysis boasts an impressive 97.3% urban area accuracy rate, and will further help clients by flatlining budgets into a manageable, reduced annual payment as opposed to ballooning budgets every 5 years to update canopy studies.

“PlanIT Geo is committed to staying at the forefront of technology in urban forestry to bring value to our clients,” said Ian Hanou, the company’s Founder & CEO. “Partnering with EarthDefine helps us deliver on this promise by offering nationwide, high-resolution urban tree canopy data with best-in-class accuracy, served through our TreePlotter™ CANOPY software as a service (SaaS) platform with off-the-shelf Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis like never before.”

This new partnership was formed through a shared passion for the environment, disruptive technology, and the critical importance of trees in cities, tree equity distribution, and how that relates to the future of sustainable and resilient urban planning.

“EarthDefine wants to enable organizations of all sizes to quickly acquire and analyze data on their trees,” said Vikalpa Jetly, Founder & CEO of EarthDefine. “With extensive experience in urban forestry and tree cover analytics, PlanIT Geo was a natural fit for a partnership to innovate a rapidly consumable, subscription-style ‘Canopy as a Service (CaaS)’ offering to provide basic and enhanced tree cover analytics. We are excited to partner with PlanIT Geo to bring a scalable and cost-effective solution to get precise, updated, and action-ready data on trees.”

EarthDefine uses AI to transform aerial imagery and other data into consumable geospatial information products. These analyses provide building footprints, high-resolution tree and land cover data, canopy height models, and tree locations. Using PlanIT Geo’s powerful software with EarthDefine’s tree canopy data included in the subscription provides users with cost-effective land cover data in a visually pleasing and easy-to-use format. Benefits include:

     

    • Low annual subscription cost for tree canopy data analysis and software that flatlines budgets and simplifies procurement
    • Regular tree canopy data updates, every 2-3 years
    • Track, map, and assess canopy change over time
    • Tree canopy data with 60-cm resolution, 96.6% overall accuracy
    • Calculations of tree canopy ecosystem services based on the i-Tree suite of tools
    • Tree equity scores based on analysis by American Forests
    • Interactive online maps for community engagement

    “With this new technology, tree canopy assessments are already done for you and we will update it continuously as new imagery becomes available,” emphasized Hanou. “The annual subscription will keep your data and TreePlotter software up-to-date with current canopy cover percentages and changes over time, all broken out across a variety of spatial planning metrics.”

    Through this partnership, PlanIT Geo and EarthDefine make it easier than ever before to purchase, use, and share critical information on changes in urban tree canopy. This new offering reduces technical hurdles as there is no need for GIS staff to analyze or scope a tree canopy study–the work is already done by artificial intelligence. TreePlotter CANOPY then makes it easy to view, plan and grow your urban forest.

    Explore more at: https://planitgeo.com/treeplotter-canopy/