From Trajanus · Storm-ready tree risk triage

TREE-iage

Before the storm: which tree is the real danger to your house?

TREE-iage is an app we are developing for residents and for municipalities. Photograph each tree, answer a few questions, and get a storm-specific ranking of which trees to have looked at first, with each tree's likely fall direction, using the forecast for your address.

Status: in development. The scoring engine is built; the app is next.

The problem

Every hurricane season, homeowners across Florida and the Gulf Coast look at the trees around the house and ask which one is coming down.

Arborists are booked solid the week before a storm. Adjusters and disaster aid arrive after the damage. Dangerous trees stay standing while healthy ones get cut in a panic. Nobody helps you put them in order before it matters.

How it works

Photograph each tree

Three to five photos: the whole tree, the base, the crown and any damage you can see.

Answer a few questions

Lean, cracks, dead wood, root problems, and what is close enough to be hit.

We add the storm

The forecast wind and gusts for your address come in automatically from the National Weather Service.

Get your list

Every tree scored and ranked Immediate, High, Moderate or Low, on a map with its likely fall direction.

What the list shows

Each tree, with its likely fall direction

Every tree is scored and ranked Immediate, High, Moderate or Low, on a map with its likely fall direction.

Diagram, not a photo, and not a real address: one tree, its likely fall direction, and what is close enough to be hit.

In development

For residents, and for municipalities

We are building TREE-iage in two parts: a phone app for people looking after their own trees, and a map view for the cities and counties looking after thousands of them.

RESIDENTS · THE PHONE APP

Your trees, before your storm

Homeowners, landlords and HOAs photograph their trees and get a ranked list for the storm that is coming: which trees to have an arborist look at first, and which way each one would likely fall.

MUNICIPALITIES · THE MAP VIEW (PLANNED)

Every street, ranked before the season

Cities and counties see where tall trees stand close to homes, roads and public buildings, send crews or volunteers to check the blocks that rank highest, and put the results on a map in their own ArcGIS, ready to plan trimming and removals before hurricane season.

Both start from LANDFIRE

LANDFIRE's national 30-metre maps of canopy cover and canopy height are two of the layers Osborne uses for wildland fire, and its vegetation-type map shows what grows where. For a resident they show the forest canopy around an address, not single trees; for a municipality they show where the tall canopy sits across the jurisdiction. The field checks then tell us which individual trees matter.

Map of High Springs, Florida: LANDFIRE's 30-metre forest canopy height in five classes of green over a street map, with a legend from under 5 metres to over 20 metres — LANDFIRE canopy height (30 m), illustration for TREE-iage: High Springs, Florida. It shows forest canopy, not single trees.

Then act on it

Share the reportA PDF for your landlord, insurer, HOA or tree service.
Find helpLinks to ISA-certified arborists, state forestry, disaster assistance and insurance guidance.
Know what it is notNot an arborist's diagnosis, and every screen says so. It tells you which trees to have inspected first. It never tells you to cut one down.

A resident, a city or a county?

Built in High Springs, Florida, and tested on real trees. Want to try it when it is ready, or pilot the map view in your town?

[email protected]