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Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping and analysis for informed urban forest planning
Understanding your urban tree canopy is an important first step in planning, protecting and investing in your community’s urban forest. However, mapping services can often be cost-prohibitive or lack alignment with municipal tracking software.
Vineland’s Urban Tree Canopy Assessment service provides municipalities with accessible, science-based analysis that transforms complex spatial data into clear, usable information to support urban forestry planning and natural asset management.
Whether you need a cost-effective baseline or a more detailed spatial assessment, our team can help you better understand your existing canopy and establish the information needed to plan for its future.
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What is GIS mapping?
- A Geographic Information System, or GIS, connects information with location, allowing data to be visualized and analyzed geographically.
- For urban tree canopy assessment, GIS can help transform complex spatial information into maps and insights that make it easier to understand where canopy exists and how it is distributed across a municipality.
- Rather than simply producing a map, GIS analysis can help reveal patterns and relationships in canopy data that can support municipal planning and decision-making.
Choose the assessment that meets your needs
Not every organization needs the same level of analysis. Vineland offers two approaches depending on how you intend to use your canopy information.
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Targeted Baseline Canopy Assessment
Get a reliable snapshot of your current canopy.
Our Targeted Baseline Canopy Assessment provides a cost-effective statistical assessment of urban tree canopy coverage.
Using a sampling-based approach, the assessment provides municipalities with an understanding of existing canopy coverage and a baseline that can be used for benchmarking and initial planning.
This assessment can help you:
- Establish current canopy coverage.
- Compare canopy coverage across defined areas of your community.
- Understand the estimated ecosystem-service value associated with your canopy.
- Establish a baseline for reporting and benchmarking.
- Inform initial urban forest planning.
Best suited for: Organizations looking for an accessible, cost-effective way to establish a baseline understanding of their urban tree canopy.
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Comprehensive Canopy Assessment
Going beyond the basics of baseline canopy assessments
For organizations requiring deeper spatial insights, our Comprehensive Canopy Assessment uses satellite imagery to develop a detailed picture of canopy coverage across the municipality.
The resulting spatial canopy data and GIS-ready deliverables provide a stronger foundation for more detailed analysis, planning and future monitoring.
This assessment can help you:
- Visualize the spatial distribution of canopy throughout your community.
- Explore canopy patterns across neighbourhoods or other defined areas.
- Support urban forest planning and policy development.
- Inform the prioritization of future initiatives.
- Establish a consistent spatial dataset to support future canopy monitoring and change analysis.
Best suited for: Organizations seeking detailed spatial information to support longer-term urban forest planning, prioritization and decision-making.
Which Assessment is Right for your Organization?
The Targeted Baseline Canopy Assessment provides a cost-effective statistical estimate to support benchmarking and initial planning.
The Comprehensive Canopy Assessment creates a detailed spatial canopy dataset with GIS-ready outputs to support deeper analysis and longer-term planning.
Our team can help you determine the level of assessment that best supports your organization’s needs, and refine our approach to meet your specific information gaps.
Ready to see your urban forest differently?
Whether you’re looking to establish your first canopy baseline or develop a more detailed understanding of your urban forest, Vineland can help you turn canopy data into information you can use.
Connect with our team to discuss how GIS mapping can support your organizations short, and long-term planning?
