Bengaluru: Now an app to track our city’s trees

Bengaluru: How would it be to take a walk on the street and find out all about trees you are walking under? The Project Vruksha Foundation has made this possible and designed a website where trees in a ward are located through geo-positioning system (GPS).

As of now, the details of trees at Pattabhiramnagar ward of Jayanagar have been recorded and uploaded on the website. One of the features of the app is that the trees are shown in orange and green colour, while red signifies a free space where a tree can be grown.

“Orange represents a sapling, while the green denotes a grown tree. From biological names to intricate details like the health of trees are uploaded. So, if a tree is weak we get to know from the website,” said Bengaluru’s tree doctor Vijay Nishanth, who has founded Project Vruksha.

Every tree has a separate ID for its easy tracking. Nishanth wants the civic agency to take the census forward. “I have given 10 years to develop this. I gave the format and now the information is in the public domain. We have recorded more than 3,700 trees in one ward alone,” he added.

The website not only gives the precise location of trees but also their biological details, which is expected to increase transparency in the administration of city’s green cover.

After the website was launched, Nishanth has been flooded with mails on information about uprooted and axed trees. “This is for the citizens, and they have to take this forward. We also have before and after images of trees on the website,” he said.

The forest department is mandated to conduct the tree census once every three years, but it has failed. Project Vruksha started a tree census a few years ago, but had to abandon it, as the BBMP refused to extend support. “It was presumably to avoid transparency,” Foundation volunteers said.

The website also has a list of species of trees and their locations. For example, if you want to see a copper pod tree in the ward, the list of species allows you to locate it on the map.

Next month, Mr Nishanth is planning to conduct a health survey of the trees in the ward.