About
OpenTreeMap is a powerful, flexible urban forestry management platform designed to help cities, municipalities, and environmental organizations inventory, analyze, and engage communities around their urban tree canopy. Built as an open-source project with an optional cloud-based subscription tier, OpenTreeMap supports everything from small single-city deployments to broad regional networks spanning multiple communities. Users can search for trees by species, location, diameter, planting date, and other characteristics. Trees can be added individually or bulk-loaded via existing datasets, with detailed records covering species, height, plot size, condition, stewardship actions, and funding sources. The platform automatically calculates ecosystem services — including greenhouse gas sequestration, stormwater management, energy savings, and air quality improvements — based on each tree's species and diameter using trusted USDA i-Tree methodology. OpenTreeMap supports public or private inventory configurations and offers fully customizable maps, filters, and database fields. Data can be exported as KML or CSV files for use in GIS and other tools. Mobile and tablet interfaces for iOS and Android make field data collection practical for arborists and community volunteers alike. An optional integrated tree identification key assists in species verification in the field. The platform also features user account management, comment moderation, and edit tracking, making it ideal for coordinating both professional staff and citizen-science contributors. OpenTreeMap is trusted by cities such as Philadelphia, San Diego, Tampa, Grand Rapids, and many more worldwide.
Key Features
- Crowdsourced Tree Inventory: Add trees individually or in bulk, edit records with species, height, condition, plot size, and photos — contributed by staff or the public.
- Automatic Ecosystem Services Calculations: Automatically calculates greenhouse gas, stormwater, energy, and air quality benefits based on each tree's species and diameter using trusted USDA methodology.
- Advanced Search & Filtering: Search trees by species, location, diameter, planting date, flowering status, native classification, and other custom characteristics.
- Mobile & Tablet Support: Native iOS and Android apps enable field data collection, condition assessments, and species identification directly from mobile devices.
- Data Export & Customization: Export tree inventories as KML or CSV files and fully customize maps, filters, stewardship activities, and database fields for your organization's needs.
Use Cases
- Municipal arborists maintaining a city-wide urban tree inventory and tracking condition assessments over time.
- Environmental nonprofits engaging community volunteers in crowdsourced tree mapping and stewardship programs.
- Urban planners calculating the ecosystem services value of tree canopy to support green infrastructure policy decisions.
- Regional forestry agencies managing multi-city tree databases with public-facing maps and species search tools.
- Researchers and universities analyzing urban forest data for academic studies on climate resilience and biodiversity.
Pros
- Truly Open Source: Full source code is available on GitHub for web, iOS, and Android, giving organizations complete control over their deployment and data.
- Built-in Ecosystem Benefit Calculations: Automatically quantifies the environmental and economic value of urban trees, making it easy to justify and communicate forest management investments.
- Scales from City to Region: Supports single-municipality deployments or broad multi-community regional networks under one unified platform.
- Flexible Deployment Options: Organizations can self-host the open-source version or opt for the managed cloud subscription, accommodating various technical capacities and budgets.
Cons
- Technical Setup Required for Self-Hosting: Deploying and customizing the open-source version requires development expertise in database setup, server configuration, and software customization.
- Limited Built-in AI Features: The platform relies on rule-based ecosystem calculations rather than AI-driven insights, which may limit advanced predictive analytics capabilities.
- Subscription Costs for Managed Service: Organizations that lack technical resources must use the paid subscription tier, which may be costly for smaller municipalities or nonprofits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is OpenTreeMap free to use?
The core OpenTreeMap platform is fully open source and free to self-host. A paid monthly subscription service is also available for organizations that prefer a managed, cloud-hosted solution without needing to handle technical setup.
What platforms does OpenTreeMap support?
OpenTreeMap has a web-based platform along with open-source iOS and Android mobile apps for field data collection. All code is available on GitHub.
How are ecosystem services calculated?
Ecosystem benefits such as greenhouse gas sequestration, stormwater management, energy savings, and air quality improvements are automatically calculated based on each tree's species and diameter, using methodologies aligned with USDA i-Tree standards.
Can the public contribute to tree inventories?
Yes. OpenTreeMap supports crowdsourced data collection, allowing community members to add new trees, upload photos, and edit existing records. Administrators can make inventories public or private as needed.
Can OpenTreeMap cover multiple cities or regions?
Yes. OpenTreeMap can be deployed to cover a single municipality or scaled to support a broader geographic region with many communities or organizations all within one platform.
