CITIZEN BASED TREE INVENTORY USING MOBILE DATA COLLECTOR AND QUICK RESPONSE CODE

摘要

Citizen science programmes have been conducted for several decades to make use the collective intelligence of local people in supplying scientific data. In developed countries, volunteer efforts to update urban street tree records have been common due to the recent advancement and low cost of mobile technology. In Malaysia, motivation to conserve the green space through replanting trees is soaring due to various campaigns at schools and in the community and corporate sectors. However, limited resources to conduct a tree inventory after planting or replanting events have led to difficulty in monitoring the conditions of trees that have been planted. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present the approach of using the GeoTrees system, an integrated mobile data collector embedded with Quick Response (QR) code technology, to support a citizen-based tree inventory. This system offers a low-cost solution in tree inventory whereby any mobile-enabled citizens could participate in tagging trees using their own Smartphone. End users are able to record basic tree data, including species name, diameter and height after tagging a tree with a QR code. The system also provides a tool to report post event activities such as tree watering and pruning. As a conclusion, engaging citizens in tree inventory using digital mobile technology could offer an alternative way to support in providing supplementary data toward a comprehensive database for monitoring the sustainability of urban green space and forest in Malaysia.