STREET TREE INVENTORY
Status: Data Completed in 1994. Updated in 1996-1997.

SOURCE/CONVERSION METHODOLOGY

The Brookline Street Tree Inventory was initially conducted in 1994 as a cooperative project of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, U.S. Forest Service, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management, and the

Town of Brookline. Other supporting organizations include the Harvard University Arnold Arboretum and the Brookline Green Space Alliance. The Town agencies involved in the project include the Conservation Commission, Tree Planting Committee, and the Department of Public Works. This project, thought to be the first comprehensive municipal street tree inventory based on GIS, recruited and trained over 100 citizens to perform the inventory. Teams of volunteers were assigned areas of the town in which to locate each street tree on the Town’s Assessor’s Maps for digitizing at a later time by UMass/Amherst. The field locations were correlated by overlaying them with aerial photographs. Each team also carried a Hunter Husky 16 data recorder, which was programmed in Basic to ask a series of standardized questions. Data on each tree was collected including species, diameter, condition, and growing conditions. The collected data was downloaded by UMass/Amherst into ArcInfo to create the street tree data layer.

Since then the tree inventory has been updated through the cooperative efforts from the Tree Planting Committee, the Park Department, students from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Brookline GIS Staff. The new plantings from 1995, 1996 and 1997 have been located and digitized into GIS.

COVERAGE NAME

STRTREES

95FNLCOV

96FNLCOV

97FNLCOV

FEATURE TYPE

POINTS

ATTRIBUTES

Point Attribute Table (STRTREES.PAT):

Arc: ITEMS STRTREES.PAT

COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE* N.DEC ALTERNATE NAME INDEXED?
1 AREA 4 12 F 3 -  
5 PERIMETER 4 12 F 3 -  
9 STRTRESS# 4 5 B - -  
13 STRTRESS-ID 4 5 B - -  
17 TREEID 11 11 N 0 -  
28 TOWNID 3 3 I - -  
31 SPECIE 2 2 C - -  
33 DBH 3 3 I - -  
36 COND 1 1 C - -  
37 COND_DESC 15 15 C - -  
52 ROOT 1 1 C   -  
53 IMPERV 1 1 I - -  
54 CROTCH 1 1 C - -  
55 UTIL 1 1 C - -  
56 WIRE 1 1 C - -  
57 DWOOD 1 1 C - -  
58 CAVITY 1 1 C - -  
59 HIST 1 1 C - -  
60 STREET 1 1 C - -  
61 PARK 1 1 C - -  
62 MGMT 1 1 C - -  
63 PRUNE 1 1 C - -  
64 COMMTYPE 20 20 C - -  
84 COMMNAME 20 20 C - -  

** REDEFINED

 ITEMS **            
22 BROOKTREEID 6 6 C - -  

* See Appendix G for detail

Some STRTREES coverage field descriptions:

Field Description

SPECIE Tree species**

COND Present condition code

COND_DESC Present condition in words

ROOT Predominant root zone cover***

IMPERV % Impervious material over root zone ****

CROTCH Weak crotch (Y/N)

UTIL Utility lines (Y/N)

WIRE Over head wires (Y/N)

DWOOD Dead wood in crown(Y/N)

CAVITY Tree contains cavity in trunk or main leader(Y/N)

STREET Street tree(Y/N)

PARK Park tree(Y/N)

MGMT Management need*****

COMMTYPE Common type

COMMNAME Common name

***** Management Need

P= Pruning

R= Tree needs to be removed

C= Consult by Town Arborist

N=None

**** % Impervious material over root zone:

1= 0%

2= 1-33%

3=34-66%

4= 67-100%

*** Predominant root zone cover:

A= Asphalt

G= Grass/groundcover

C= Concrete

** Tree Species:

Codes Botanical Names Common Names Type
AA Ailanthus altissima Ailanthus Secondary
AC Amelanchier canadensis Shadblow Serviceberry Secondary
AH Aesculus hippocastanum Horsechestnut Primary
AM Acer saccharum Sugar Maple Primary
AP Acer platanoides Norway Maple Primary
AR Acer rubrum Red Maple Primary
AS Acer saccharinum Silver Maple Primary
BP Betula populifolia Grey Birch Secondary
BY Betula papyrifera Paper Birch Secondary
CF Cornus florida Flowering Dogwood Secondary
CJ Cercidiphyllum japonicum Katsuratree Secondary
CK Cornus kousa Kousa Dogwood Secondary
CL Crataegus laevigata English Hawthorn Secondary
CP Crataegus phaenopyrum Washington Hawthorn Secondary
CS Catalpa speciosa Northern Catalpa Primary
FA Fraxinus americana White Ash Primary
FG Fagus grandifolia American Beech Secondary
FP Fraxinus pennsylvanica Green Ash Primary
FS Fagus sylvatica European Beech Secondary
GB Ginkgo biloba Ginkgo Primary
GT Gleditsia triacanthos Honeylocust Primary
LT Liriodendron tulipifera Tuliptree Primary
ML Malus x Flowering Crabapple Primary
OA Oxydendrum arboreum Sourwood Primary
PA Platanus x acerifolia London Planetree Primary
PB Picea abies Norway Spruce Secondary
PC Pyrus calleryana Callery Pear Primary
PG Picea glauca White Spruce Secondary
PN Pinus nigra Austrian Pine Secondary
PO Platanus occidentalis Sycamore Primary
PP Picea pungens Colorado Blue Spruce Secondary
PR Pinus resinosa Red Pine Secondary
PS Pinus strobus Eastern White Pine Secondary
QA Quercus alba White Oak Secondary
QP Quercus palustris Pin Oak Primary
QR Quercus rubra Red Oak Primary
QV Quercus velutina Black Oak Secondary
SB Salix babylonica Weeping Willow Secondary
TA Tilia americana American Linden Primary
TC Tilia cordata Littleleaf Linden Primary
TD Tsuga canadensis Canada Hemlock Secondary
TO Thuja occidentalis American Arborvitae Secondary
UA Ulmus americana American Elm Primary
UP Ulmus pumila Siberian Elm Primary
ZS Zelkova serrata Japanese Zelkova Primary

 

Sample record from the STRTREES point attribute table:

Arc: list strtrees.pat

1

AREA = 0.000
PERIMETER = 0.000
STRTREES# = 1
STRTREES-ID = 42619
TREEID = 46042619
TOWNID = 200
SPECIE = am
DBH = 19
COND = g
COND_DESC = good
ROOT = a
IMPERV = 4
CROTCH = n
UTIL = n
WIRE = n
DWOOD = n
CAVITY = y
HIST = n
STREET = n
PARK =
MGMT =
PRUNE =
COMMTYPE = MAPLE
COMMNAME = SUGAR MAPLE

COORDINATE SYSTEM

Massachusetts State Plane North America Datum (NAD) 83 Feet