Enterprise GIS as a Tool for Supporting a Campus Arboretum
The grounds of the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa are an accredited arboretum, showcasing plants from Hawai`i, the Pacific, and across the tropics, including a number of truly exceptional trees like what may be the largest baobab in the United States. Classified as a Level 1 arboretum by Morton Arboretumʻs ArbNet, it also has Tree Campus Higher Education recognition by the Arbor Day Foundation. While its primary function is to support the educational mission of the University, the Arboretum is also open to the public.
My name is Julius Paulo, GIS Coordinator for the University of Hawai`i Office of Systems Integration, and this blog post highlights how we use Enterprise GIS as a tool for supporting a campus arboretum.
Why Use an Enterprise GIS?
The short answer is- we had no choice. Prior to entering campus plants information into an Enterprise GIS (known as ArcGIS Enterprise in the Esri environment), it was managed through Google Fusion Tables by the previous Campus Arboretum curator. Unfortunately, that person left the university, leaving the Buildings and Grounds Management office (BGM) with no in-house mapping expertise. BGM asked what was then the Office of Planning and Sustainability for help in sustaining the Plant Map and we suggested importing the data into GIS because 1) yours truly was more familiar with this system, and 2) Google Fusion Tables was planned to be discontinued by 2019. To prevent a lapse in service, we began to transition the data before the planned shut down date.
Data Clean-Up and ETL
Before we could do anything with the data, we had to first clean up the location accuracy of plants as well as its attribution. The XY coordinates were originally mapped by using aerial imagery, which introduced displacement errors. Fortunately, the University had just completed a new Campus Topographic Map project which included accurate locations of major trees. We used this new CAD topo locations as the target of where to move the initial data load.
Correcting the initial data load location to accurate survey coordinates
Also by this time Noweo Kai, the new Campus Arboretum curator, was hired by BGM and assisted in data cleanup. Since she also came into the job having to decipher the old data, we tried our best in assisting her by creating domains in the geodatabase- mirroring her predecessor’s spreadsheet look-up values as best as we could. Having her enter values from drop-downs instead of free-form data entry not only sped data cleanup but also helped us avoid introducing new typos.
Attribution QA/QC and assigning domain values
New Applications and Practical Usage
After the initial ETL was completed, our first goal was to replicate the original BGM Plant Viewer’s purpose and functionality in an Esri GIS environment- thus producing our current Plant Finder. It is a publicly accessible viewer created from ArcGIS Web AppBuilder that allowed users to find and filter plants based on their family, scientific name, common name, habit, & IUCN red list status, as well as whether the the plants were native, introduced to the islands by ancient Hawaiians, dedicated to a specific person, medicinal, or comestible… information that were all available in the legacy viewer. Improvements we made with the new viewer allows the ability to filter by genus, whether the plants have significant lignin, and if they are part of the City & County Exceptional Trees program.
Equivalence comparison between original and new plant viewers
Plant information (specifically the “Canopy Area” field) was also used to design our custom campus basemap, which includes tree canopy symbology that are relatively accurate in size to the surrounding environment. In Hawai`i, we commonly describe surroundings when arranging a meeting place or giving directions, such as saying “meet me by the big banyan tree” or “turn right on the sidewalk after the giant monkeypod”. We felt that this will give the campus community a sense of place while viewing our maps. Also, we feel it just looks better than all tree canopies having the same size!
Custom basemap showing relatively accurate canopy sizes
Other applications that include Plants information are our public-facing Interactive Campus Map, as well as an internal Facilities Campus Map. This private viewer gives UH facilities staff the option to see which plants are “Significant”- a detail based on multiple factors which indicates that a specific plant cannot be cut down without additional review. Project managers would use this map to see which plants are within their construction project zones, and if they are in danger of getting cut down or uprooted. If a plant appears to be Significant, the PMs will then contact Campus Arboretum and Landscaping staff before they touch those plants.
"Significant Plants" selector
Another application we developed for UH staff is a simplified version of the Plant Finder that is only accessible by BGM staff. The main difference with this new BGM Plants Viewer and the Plant Finder is that the data is pulling directly from the “Edit Version” of our Plants feature class- allowing users to see the newest information as soon as it’s entered. BGM staff use this viewer for their Tree Care Report, which they fill out after they prune or cut down branches. The viewer allows them to see each tree’s Species name as well as the individual Accession Number- information they need for their report.
Identifying tree Species and Accession Number for reporting
"The interactive design enables faculty and students of various disciplines to engage in the landscape more thoroughly and meaningfully. Search criteria created through eGIS - Family, Genus, Scientific Name, Common Name, Native, Canoe, Exceptional, Dedicated - are criteria that plants are commonly searched for by folks studying plant sciences as well as the broader community.
Facilities benefit from the Plant Finder by quickly seeing the layout of trees and how the university values each. For example, a building development project may require to know what plants can be considered for removal or are absolutely off-limits. Plant Finder is edited by the curator and viewed by authorized users to access such data. The trees among all plants are indicated as well. For the purpose of maintenance, palms are labeled as trees because they potentially affect buildings’ rooftops. Additionally, plant forestry classes monitor and log tree phenology and we can potentially integrate this information in our database so that maintenance may refer to to anticipate and plan for flowering/fruiting seasons of certain tree species.”
- Noweo Kai, UH Mānoa Campus Arboretum Curator
What started as a necessity due to the discontinuation of Google Fusion Tables has proven to be a useful tool for the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa campus community. Managing plant information in an enterprise GIS not only helps Campus Arboretum staff maintain their inventory and upkeep accurate information, but it also helps protect Significant Plants from getting accidentally destroyed.
Managing the data in this system also allows us to use the information in more creative ways such as having a custom campus basemap and an application to help people find campus plants. The future only looks better from here as we integrate more information and have potential collaboration with various classes.
Thank you for reading and feel free to comment on how you use GIS to manage your plant information!