Bluesky National Tree Map Helps UK Authority Plan Ground Maintenance

English local authority Daventry District Council is using a detailed 3D map of trees from Bluesky to prepare for a new grounds maintenance contract. The National Tree Map (NTM) data, which identifies the location, height and canopy cover of more than 280 million trees nationwide, is being used within Daventry Council’s GIS, enabling officers to identify all trees that fall within areas that will be the subject of a new grounds maintenance contract.

As part of a major restructure of environmental services, the South Midlands based council recently approved in principle a joint venture with Norse Commercial Services to deliver a range of environmental services when its current agreement with Amey Enterprise ends in 2018. Norse will deliver street cleaning and grass cutting for the town of Daventry, while some Parish Councils will take on litter picking and the maintenance of closed churchyards.

Used alongside Public Sector Mapping Agreement (PSMA) datasets and other map layers, including the council’s land and property datasets, planning constraints and highways information, the tree data is displayed on the council’s GIS - MapInfo and QGIS.

“In order to prepare for the proposed joint venture, we need to have an accurate and up to date understanding of the area that will fall under the new contract and its physical make up,” commented Simon Hume, GIS Officer at Daventry District Council. “The Bluesky map has proved extremely valuable during this preparation and research stage, as we now know how many trees will be subject to the new contract and we have even been able to identify trees that may require additional assessment or attention based on their perimeter and area measurements.”

In addition to the use of the Bluesky NTM dataset to support the preparation and implementation of new grounds maintenance contracts, other applications will include use by officers in Planning Policy, who are currently reviewing the Authority’s Local Plan Policies and Development Control, including the Conservation Team who deal with all Planning Applications and maintain the council’s Planning Constraints datasets. The Council’s Land and Property Team, who maintain the Authority’s land terrier data, will also make use of the datasets to inform ongoing work.