New York City’s Tree Map Gets More Data

New York City’s tree map just received a makeover, adding fine-grained data that can help New Yorkers understand the specific environmental, social, and economic impacts of street trees from the individual tree to the neighborhood scale. 

As Linda Poon explains in Bloomberg CityLab, “The New York City Tree Map, launched Thursday, is an expansion of the city’s existing street tree map, which since 2016 has enabled New Yorkers to get up close and personal with the 650,000-some trees that line their neighborhood sidewalks.” The tool “pulls up stats on its ecological and financial contribution to the city, as calculated using formulas from the US Forest Service. Zoom out, and the map calculates all the benefits at a neighborhood level.”

“By drumming up public appreciation for the city’s greenery, the city hopes to encourage more people to help care for trees in their parks and neighborhoods. Volunteers can log any care they provide to a tree, whether that’s watering it, removing garbage from the tree bed, or pruning branches (which requires citizens to first obtain a permit).”

Additionally, “New Yorkers can also alert officials to any specific tree in need of attention by digitally tagging it on the map on their phone and putting in a service request or reporting an issue.”