Dawes Arboretum Internship

Luanne HendricksColumbus State Community College

GIS 290

Spring, 2004

Presentation Outline

• Arboretum Background/Overview

• GIS Overview/Requirements

• My Internship

• Observations/Learning

Arboretum Background

• Non Profit Foundation established 1929 by Dawes Family

• Mission

– promote study and appreciation of trees & shrubs

– foster scientific education in horticulture, natural history and Arboretum history

• Free and open to the public

Beman and Bertie Dawes ->

Arboretum Overview

• Plant collections cover 1600+ acres near Newark, Ohio

• Hiking Trails, Nature Center, Historic Structures, Bird Boxes

• Additional surrounding property owned

• 16,000+ labeled plants on grounds

• about 1,000 new plants added to collection each year

• about 500 plants removed from collection each year

Map of Arboretum

•Collection areas

•North & South End

Arboretum GIS Overview

• Background/Requirements

• Applications

• Data

• Processes

• People Involved

• Software/Hardware

Arboretum GIS History

• Before GIS:

– computerized non-spatial plant records in existence prior to GIS

– grid system maps documented on paper in binders for plant location

• 1997:

– GIS needs assessment done by an OSU class under Duane Marble

– 1 full-time GIS coordinator hired

• 1998: data collection begun

Arboretum GIS Requirements

• Goal - use GIS as planning tool

• Goal - address spatial needs of all departments

– horticulture, history, nature, administration, business, maintenance

• features - plant collections, utility systems, bird boxes, trails, and historic structures

• plant collections need sub-meter location accuracy

• measurement attribute data + location data needed

Arboretum GIS Current Status

• Original Data Collection being fine-tuned

• Data Collection maintenance

• Application Development and Analysis to come

Applications • Future

• Ability of staff & visitors to generate their own maps

– Plant collections, trails, etc.

– Utilities

• Analysis

– detect patterns in poor plant growth and analyze reasons

• And more…

Data• OrthoPhotos - 1998

• GPS data files

– differentially corrected location data

• Some location data obtained using surveyed control points

• Features

– Plant Attributes: Measurements, label-type, Accession Number, GridLocation

– Other Features - trails, trail markers, birdboxes, grid corner pins

Data - GPS Limitations• Canopied Environment

• Need line of sight to at least 4 satellites

• Multipath - signal will bounce off nearby objects (trees)

• Need differential correction for sub-meter accuracy

• Reference stations - Fish Hatchery, Miami U.

• Used post-processing

Processes

• GPS Data Collection Fine Tuning – Field Map Generation in ArcView– Field Checking - ensure data agrees with reality– Re-GPS work– Correcting/updating location & attribute data

• Ongoing Plant Addition & Removal Processes

People Involved

• GIS Coordinator

• GIS interns

• Plant Records Specialist

• Labeling Specialist

• Horticulture & Maintenance Staff

• Other departments - Nature, History

• Director & Board of Trustees

Software

• GIS Software

– Current - ArcView 3.2 / ArcGIS Desktop 8.3

– Planned - ArcGIS Desktop 9.0 + ArcReader & ArcPublisher

• Non-spatial Plant database - In House application built on FoxPro

– ArborbaseConnect - available to all staff via network

• GPS data processing software - Pathfinder 2.10

Hardware

• PCs (2) - Windows XP

• Plotter

• GPS Equipment – Trimble ProXR– Laser Rangefinder, Range Pole, Shoulder Strap

Configurations

• LAN

My Internship

Internship - Data Collection

• Learning the Grounds

• GPS – Setup/takedown, care of equipment

– Positioning equipment in the field; awareness of PDOP

– Rangepole - small plants, no canopy interference

– Rangefinder - tall plants, near canopy

– Shoulder Strap - polyline features - beds

• Plant Measurement – Height, Width, Canopy, Caliper, Dbh

Internship - Software Use

• Using ArcView 3.2 – making field maps– viewing Orthophoto for plant location

• Pathfinder 2.10– uploading GPS files from GPS data logger – editing files– generating an Almanac - SVs & PDOP– differential correction

Internship - Quality Control

• Field Checking - maps vs. plants on grounds– existence or non-existence of plants– existence/correctness of labels– positional accuracy

• Researching unknown plants– ArborbaseConnect, Binders, Planting Sheets,

Removal Sheets

Internship - Quality Control (2)

• Documenting file corrections– Verifying needed changes in non-spatial and

spatial records– Make records on paper documents of each GPS

file for each change– update the GPS file - change attributes or delete

feature

Internship - Miscellaneous

• Attended staff meeting

• Tour of surrounding Arboretum property

• Application development for Field Map Application

Observations/Learning• Quality Data is a huge investment

– Cost and limitations of technology– Training– Ongoing data maintenance

• Importance of appropriate accuracy requirements– Understanding tradeoffs - accuracy vs. cost– For example - a display garden such as Inniswood, with

annual beds instead of individual specimens, might not need this level of accuracy for mapping plant collections.