tree catalog. and id

[treehive]

toying with the idea of building a tree id app. with a built in catalog.
the way it may work, all of our smart phones have a ok gps. Open up the app and fill in form with location, and pictures of whole tree, of a leave, trunk and whole tree. and any disease or insect issues with pictures.

what you get out of it is a identification of the tree, help with the disease and insects and information. and some sort of compensation, not sure what.

it would be a direct line from academia to the field on a tree to tree basis.

a bit like leaf snap, but you would be able to access the data set. and way more beneficial to the arborist. for example if you snap a picture of a red oak, it will get verified by a real human. it but also let you know what disease was found in that area , how far, what prevalence with a reporting factor, and what to look for.
it would be a rough data set but I think it would really help with management of disease.
my thoughts are it would really help to gel the knowledge base, and may end up being a great educational tool .

don't worry about that logistics of it, I can handle that part.
what I am looking for is what would it have to do to make it beneficial.?
the more trees that get cataloged the better it will work. also you would put in removals. as well.

any thoughts? concerns? reasons you would or would not participate?


Michael

 

[Reed2179]

Good idea. I use the Dirr app now but, a more region specific approach would be awesome.
What do you mean about "put in removals"?

 

[treehive]

well the data would have value only if it was "living", so basically the program would build a database of every tree cataloged. so when you removed a tree, you would remove it from the catalog.

it would operate like a huge excel spread sheet. and when you sent in a file, if it was already filed you would be able to see the history minus any information that would cause issues between companies. like treatments ect.

the guys evaluating the incoming date would be basically paid in date, and the guys collecting the data would be "paid" in having the results of what they collected.

walk up to a tree, and notice it has some sort of aliment. open the app, fill in the information with the required pictures and you get results in 24 hrs or less. imagine how fast understanding of trees would grow!!!! there will be lots of stuff we should know coming up but at the same time that is how you learn.

this would also give you info on insect and disease activity in a area as well, which would help to build a care plan. .