iTree Canopy data save

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Rachel
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2016 8:58 pm

iTree Canopy data save

Post by Rachel » Thu Aug 04, 2016 7:46 pm

In i-Tree Canopy is it possible to define a large project area, sample 1000 points, then use a subsample of the same points in a new smaller project area (within the large project area)?
e.g. could I save the data, edit it to remove some points, then upload it into i-Tree? Or save it, upload and delete some points?
Just thinking it might be a quick way to sample a whole city then also each suburb within there. Otherwise I will input each suburb area and select points separately.
Thanks
Jason.Henning
i-Tree Team
Posts: 340
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 7:45 am

Re: iTree Canopy data save

Post by Jason.Henning » Fri Aug 05, 2016 7:49 am

Hi Rachel,
There is no way to do this type of stratified project completely within Canopy. However, if you have some GPS expertise you could export your points and join them to your suburb boundary layer so that each point would be associated with a suburb. If you export that data you could then perform the statistical calculations for each map unit in spreadsheet software. The calculations for determining the percent cover and standard errors are pretty straight forward and can be found in this document, http://www.itreetools.org/canopy/resour ... dology.pdf. If you would like to determine the air pollution and carbon removal benefits for each suburb you would need to convert the percent canopy cover into areas for each suburb then you could apply the multipliers that are provided within i-Tree Canopy. You can see those multipliers during project set up or if you look at the "Report" and click on the gear wheel highlighted below. Note: these multipliers only apply to your area of tree canopy cover not your entire project area.
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In the "Tree Benefits" table that opens you will need the values in the "Removal Rate" and "Monetary Value" columns and you may need to do some conversions to make sure that your canopy areas are in the same units (i.e. acres or hectares) as the values in the "Removal Rate" column.
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Hope that helps but let us know if you have any questions about the details.

Thanks,
Jason
A member of the i-Tree Team
Rachel
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2016 8:58 pm

Re: iTree Canopy data save

Post by Rachel » Mon Aug 22, 2016 9:36 pm

Hi,
Thanks for your detailed response.
I have a follow up question regarding calculating the air pollution and carbon removal benefits manually. Can you confirm this is the correct process?
-calculate area of shapefile used
-convert % canopy cover into area
-ensure values are converted to correct unit (e.g. acres)
-calculate values e.g. for CO removal rate=2.178 x canopy cover (in acres). Is there any other value to input? Anything required to account for year? I don't seem to get the same values as those produced in the report function.

I am in Perth Australia. Do you recommend I use the multipliers for the entire USA or for California (which is most climatically similar)?

Thanks for your assistance,
Rachel
Jason.Henning
i-Tree Team
Posts: 340
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 7:45 am

Re: iTree Canopy data save

Post by Jason.Henning » Wed Aug 24, 2016 8:47 am

Hi Rachel,
Those steps look correct to me. It might be worth making sure that you are calculating the percent cover for each individual area you are interested and using the acreages for those identical boundaries. From your original question I though you would have to export the point data from Canopy and import it into a GIS. In the GIS you would then have to join your boundary layer to the i-Tree Canopy data and then calculate the percent cover for each of your polygons of interest.

I would be happy to look at your data further if you want to send us your i-Tree Canopy files and the shapefile boundaries you are trying to use. You can put all the files you are using in a .zip folder and email them to our support email address at info@itreetools.org

As far as selecting a comparable US location that is completely up to you. The i-Tree Canopy multipliers were calculated using local data for both weather and pollution so any difference between your local conditions and pollution/weather for the US location you select may lead to inaccuracies in the estimates. We have found that this site can be useful for identifying cities with similar climate, http://www.codeminders.com/weather_similarity/#, however we have not found a comparable site that considers air pollution.

Thanks,
Jason
A member of the i-Tree Team
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