The AUTI Tree Inventory System
Fully, Natively Mobile
Key Differences:
Super fast inventory taking
Simplest, most accurate mapping
Customization available
Accessible Urban Tree Inventory (AUTI)
The Accessible Urban Tree Inventory (AUTI) is a project of National Urban Community Forestry Advisory Council, enabling communities in participating states to conduct inventories using a simplified version of Urban Forest Metrix. This AUTI version has been fitted with a simpler primary interface that allows for inventories to be taken, along with UFM’s primary mapping functions and automated reporting. The AUTI system does not have the more complex and obscure features, such as TRAQ risk assessments, appraisals, or the proposal and work order tracking seen in the commercial UFM version elsewhere on the site.
Urban Forest Metrix was chosen as the existing platform on which the AUTI system has been built. Primary training for communities will be provided by through online videos, webinars and manuals created by Urban Forest Metrix specific to this project. First level training support is provided by the participating state coordinator. Second level technical support is provided by Urban Forest Metrix.
The AUTI system is a tree inventory database easy enough for volunteers to use. This makes the system great for quick tree inventory creation, updating and management. Participating communities are given licenses through an existing, awarded NUCFAC grant, which goes through mid-2021. They can conduct mobile inventories an available iOS device with no out-of-pocket costs. The system is also compatible with PC and Mac systems, although a community would need to purchase a copy of the underlying database program (Filemaker Pro) to additionally use the system on a computer.
The AUTI project is in the process of adding in a reporting module for emergency mitigation planning, which will be available in 2020 and applicable to any inventories conducted prior to then.
To see about participating in the AUTI project as an inventory community, please contact your state’s urban forestry coordinator. If you are unfamiliar with that office, feel free to contact us as well, and we can help you make that connection.
More on the Grant
The Accessible Urban Tree Inventory (AUTI) project brings a modern, mobile, map-oriented inventory system to communities for little or no out-of-pocket cost. The pilot project was funded in part by the USDA Forest Service’s National Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost Share Program, as recommended by the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council (NUCFAC).
The grant allows states to participate at a greatly reduced cost. “The system lets people use mobile devices to collect data for their communities that can then be combined into a state-wide system for wider analysis and decision making,” said system developer Tig Tillinghast of Forest Metrix. Costs of mobile tree inventory programs are often beyond the budget of smaller communities, yet these systems are needed to access timely data about the condition of the urban forest.
The AUTI system also complements i-Tree – a common software for tracking tree benefits -by providing a modern, mobile method of entering in tree data in the field. A spreadsheet file export can be created so that i-Tree can be employed for analysis.
States opting to help pilot the program will benefit by gaining additional software licenses. The Green Infrastructure Center (GIC) will assist the project with outreach. GIC’s Director Karen Firehock noted that “Trainings and webinars will be available throughout the next year to teach communities to use the software to plan for a healthy urban forest.”
The project is administered by Dovetail Partners, a non-profit organization based in Minneapolis experienced in urban forest projects. More information about the project and how to participate is included in the project’s Frequently Asked Questions document, available here.
Contact for more Information: Tig Tillinghast tig@forestmetrix.com (802) 785-4260
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This project was funded in part by the USDA Forest Service’s National Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost Share Program, as recommended by the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council.