BMP - Tree Inventories - 16

4. Work Specifications
The most important aspect of any inventory is the data it contains. A manager
with limited software, or even without software, can still make excellent use
of an inventory, as long as the data are sufficient and of good quality. But if
the data are inaccurate, inconsistent, or incomplete, no manager or software
application can compensate for it.
Complete tree inventories typically include many of the following attributes, although the exact list will depend on management objectives. This
list may also be reduced or altered for sample and partial inventories. The
manager should use this list to lay out careful specifications for the data to
be collected, making sure it will conform to the local situation.
There is a tendency to collect more than needed. Each tree attribute collected should relate directly to one of the inventory objectives. Thoughtful
consideration and planning can save time and money in data collection, data
analysis, and future data maintenance.

Location Information
General Location

In addition to a name for the whole urban forest, many managers also like to
indicate a sub-area, such as a ward, precinct, neighborhood, zone, management area, subdivision, quadrant, or block. Doing so allows the data to be
analyzed and applied within local managerial structures, forming the basis
for maintenance routines. Such areas need to be clearly defined, delineated
on the map for data collection, and included as a field in the inventory
database. Examples include blockside information (see Figure 6) and the
unique TIGER/Line ID numbers (TLID) provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
All inventories include tree location information in the form of either street
address or within a GIS. A GIS map is very helpful for irregular tree plantings, such as around houses, in front of buildings, or at a park or arboretum.

Detailed Location-Street Trees

The location of each street tree or planting site should be clearly identified
so that it can easily be found for future maintenance work or planting. At a
minimum, each site needs a unique identifier in the database. If historical
information about individual trees will be included, then each tree needs
a unique identifier in addition to the one assigned to the site it occupies.
These unique identifiers form the link among associated sets of data within
the software. Standard attributes include:
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BMP - Tree Inventories

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