Getting The Most Out of a Plant Map Plant Collections Map Applications From Botanical Gardens Veronica Nixon, GIS Manager, Desert Botanical Garden ESRI USER CONFERENCE 2018
Listening to the butterflies? Making contact with the mothership? Soil moisture sensor?
Listening to the butterflies? Making contact with the mothership? Soil moisture sensor? Survey GPS is frequently used by botanical gardens to create a full plant map.
Botanical Garden 101 Mission-focused: Botanical Education, Research, Exhibition, and Conservation Accessioned plant collections Plant database Plant map
Detailed plant collection maps
How does your organization use your plant map? UC Davis Arboretum San Francisco Botanical Garden The Huntington Red Butte Garden Desert Botanical Garden Denver Botanic Gardens Missouri Botanical Garden Chicago Botanic Garden Huntsville Botanical Garden New York Botanical Garden Longwood Gardens National Tropical Botanical Garden Montgomery Botanical Center
Usage categories Plant records management Horticulture Education Construction Collections reporting Collections planning In the following slides, each category is described in turn and illustrated with two examples contributed by various botanical gardens and arboreta.
Plant records management Conduct plant inventories Replace accession tags Coordinate ID work Sample plant material Track living tributes Support global research and conservation
Saguaro Inventory Desert Botanical Garden Field work recorded in Collector for ArcGIS app, project managed in ArcMap, data exported for archiving in Living Collections Management System plant database Inventory and assess over 1,000 saguaros on 140-acre property and fully document newlydiscovered juvenile saguaros 18-month one-time project became 2-week sustainable annual inventory
Garden Information Systems San Francisco Botanical Garden Created in Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS Visualizes inventory status of every plant in garden. Pie chart shows proportion of plants in each inventory stage Alternately displays inventory work completed over timespan of interest Image courtesy of Steve Gensler, San Francisco Botanical Garden
Horticulture Document new plantings Organize pest control Monitoring Intervention Coordinate arboriculture work Health and hazard assessment Tree pruning rotation On-board new staff
Horticulture Pin Map Desert Botanical Garden Created in Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS Horticulture Department pins new/moved plantings that will be formally mapped and accessioned Effective interdepartmental communication tool
Emerald Ash Borer monitoring Chicago Botanic Garden Maps created and queried in ArcMap Utilized by Plant Health Care staff to plan Ash Tree treatment and removal, and to systematically monitor health of remaining trees Figure depicts dramatic decrease in Ash Trees in plant collection before and after Emerald Ash Borer effect Image courtesy of Veronica Harry-Jackson, Chicago Botanic Garden
Education Plan tours and classes Search plant collections Publish Story Maps Create TaleBlazer games
What s in Bloom The Huntington App created with Esri Story Map (Map Series) template Visitors discover what is currently in bloom View photos and navigate to plant locations throughout the gardens Image courtesy of Kelly Shunn, The Huntington
Garden Games Red Butte Garden Built with TaleBlazer augmented reality platform from the Michigan Institute for Technology (MIT) Mobile, location-based games on garden grounds Latest game coincides with seasonal Lego sculpture exhibit Summer camp students create their own games
Construction Preparing plant salvage plans for City construction permits Orchestrating movement of plants while keeping data intact Designing and digging safely around existing plants and root zones Identifying impacted plants early before design changes become costly
Heritage Garden salvage plan Desert Botanical Garden Field checks completed using Collector for ArcGIS app, data organized and mapped in ArcMap and exported to.dwg for final layout by landscape architect Salvage plan for construction permitting 1,400 plants assessed and documented for Heritage Garden construction
Waterway Enhancement Project UC Davis Arboretum ArcGIS, linked to IrisBG plant records database, was used to generate plant maps which were printed and used in the field As plant collections were transplanted, maps ensured that correct accession number and taxon name were kept with each plant specimen during move Image courtesy of Angelica Sauceda, UC Davis Arboretum
Planning & reporting Disaster planning & recovery Landscape-level collections planning Reporting to: Board of Directors USDA Accreditation bodies Plant Collections Network American Alliance of Museums
Sea level rise modeling Montgomery Botanical Center Analysis carried out in ArcMap using a digital elevation model and contour map in conjunction with plant collections map Modeled impact of sea level rise on plant collections Calculated percentage of property and collections that will be submerged Half-life: Can Botanic Gardens Weather the Climate? Image courtesy of Patrick Griffith, Montgomery Botanical Center
Taxonomic diversity map Desert Botanical Garden Heat map created in ArcMap Visualizes areas of high and low taxonomic diversity May be used to plan tours and exhibits, or to monitor and strategically increase diversity of plantings Other meaningful enumeration areas include planting beds or thematic areas
Future Directions New ways for visitors to interact with plant collections through the plant map Augmented reality More spatial analysis 3D tree shade modeling
3D tree shade analysis idea Plant collections shade analysis Improve trail shading Urban forestry Please up-vote and comment on ArcGIS Ideas Forum Image: Shadow Impact Analysis Tutorial For ArcGIS Pro Analysis support: Esri Analyst Andy Shoemaker
Resources & References Sampling of public plant collections maps and tours A Living Collections Management System (Missouri Botanical Garden and Desert Botanical Garden) Missouri Botanical Garden Map Gallery (Missouri Botanical Garden) Gardens Navigator (Denver Botanic Gardens) Plant Explorer (Longwood Gardens) Plant Finder (Chicago Botanic Garden) Magnificent Magnolias on Explorer for ArcGIS app (San Francisco Botanical Garden) Find Plants (San Francisco Botanical Garden) What's In Bloom (The Huntington) Garden Games on TaleBlazer app (Red Butte Garden) Papers Nixon, V. Geodesign in the Desert. ArcUser. Winter 2017: 66-69. Griffith, P., Barber, G., Lima, J., Barros, M., Calonje, C., Noblick, L., Calonje, M., Magellan, T., Dosmann, M., Thibault, T., Gerlowski, N. 2017. Plant Collections Half-life: Can Botanic Gardens Weather the Climate? Curator: The Museum Journal. 60(4): 395-410. Xiao, Q.; McPherson, E.G. 2005. Tree health mapping with multispectral remote sensing data at UC Davis, California. Urban Ecosystems 8: 349 361. Alliance for Public Gardens (APGG) website and LinkedIn Group American Public Gardens (APGA) Plant Collections Community (library and forum available to members)
Thank you to all of the gardens that contributed ideas and content Kayla Flamm, GIS Specialist, Missouri Botanical Garden Kristina Aguilar, Plant Records Manager, Longwood Gardens Angelica Sauceda, Plant Records Specialist, UC Davis Arboretum Mary Burke, Director of Planning and Collections, UC Davis Arboretum Steve Gensler, GIS Manager, San Francisco Botanical Garden Dave Sivertsen, Gardens Technology Coordinator, The Huntington Kelly Shunn, GIS Mapping and Interpretation Technician, The Huntington Cindy Newlander, Associate Director of Horticulture, Denver Botanic Gardens Veronica Harry-Jackson, GIS Specialist, Chicago Botanic Garden Tracy Cook, Assistant Curator, Huntsville Botanical Garden Kristine Paulus, Plant Records Manager, New York Botanical Garden Ben Nyberg, GIS Specialist, National Tropical Botanical Garden Patrick Griffith, Executive Director, Montgomery Botanical Center Eddy Dawson, IT Manager, Red Butte Garden Research and Horticulture staff, Desert Botanical Garden
Questions?