We’re a happy mix of tree huggers and techies here at Rubicon, so what better way to celebrate Arbor Day than by geeking out together on ‘tree tech’? We polled some of our biggest nerds in the office, and these are their top picks! Disclaimer: A few of these play favorites toward Atlantans, but we think that’s okay because 1) #ATL is our home and 2) Atlanta is famous for its tree canopy – we’re just a town full of tree huggers.
- Leafsnap is about as geeky as you can get for Arbor Day, and for that reason we think it’s friggin’ awesome. Developed by Columbia University and the Smithsonian, the free app’s claim to fame is that you can identify a tree by taking photos of its leaves. That’s all fine and dandy, but our favorite part is the games! Leaves literally float across your screen in the game Green Sweep and you have to catch them and drag them to the correct tree name. We’re absolutely terrible at it, but that makes it all the more competitive.
- This Geospatial Tree Canopy map was probably crazy-technical to develop, but not to use! This simple map was developed by the Center for GIS at Georgia Tech (CGIS) for Trees Atlanta and funded through a Google Community Grant. It utilizes data acquired and analyzed by CGIS for the City of Atlanta as part of the city’s first urban tree canopy assessment. So what do you do with it? Turn On/Off the Tree Canopy and Neighborhood layers on the left toolbar to see which areas have the highest tree density, or type an address into the location bar, click on the chart box and see tree canopy percentages in a particular area of town. Studies show that denser tree canopies correlate with lower crime rates, so the next time you’re looking for a place to rent or stay in Atlanta, check out the local tree canopy.
- Airbnb Treehouses (yes, you heard us right – treehouses for rent!). Here are some critically acclaimed faves around the world, and this one is our favorite, since it’s literally in our backyard. As a kid, can you imagine if someone told you there was an app for renting other people’s treehouses? Yea, enough said.
- Champion Trees – While this ‘tree tech’ may not look fancy (it’s literally a Google Map), its intel is top notch. The Champion Trees Map enables you to find the exact location and details of the largest (and often oldest) trees of an entire species located in Atlanta, including the Tallest Dogwood in the US! Check out the full Champion Trees National Register and find some of these beauts near you this Arbor Day!