Click here to interact with the map
Welcome, friends! Here at Cypress Lawn Arboretum, we are proud to be launching the next generation of our virtual tree tour experience. With this newly developed Arboretum map viewer platform, you may learn about the many trees of our living collection, right from the comfort of your home, or even as a mobile accompaniment on your next in-person visit to the park.
This application was created in collaboration with the team from Blue Raster LLC, a GIS (geospatial information systems) consultancy firm that is working with a variety of historic cemeteries, public parks, and other institutions around the country to share stories, data, and other important information about meaningful places of trees. The ArcGIS Experience Builder platform, a software developed by ESRI, is the host for this virtual tree experience, which will grow to tell many arboricultural stories in the seasons ahead.
For now, this initial application launch is a wonderful way to connect with our trees even if you are not able to visit our grounds in person. Hundreds of trees are accurately mapped on this viewer, with features and information about each tree layered into the map database, which may be searched for by a variety of methods, shown below.
This screen capture of the initial basemap when you open the application includes high resolution aerial imagery that was captured by drone photography, covering all four campuses of Cypress Lawn Arboretum property. Here you can see each mature tree mapped with an orange circle. Notice the right-hand tabs on the screen, which includes a ‘Home/About’ tab, as well as a number of different search features that allow visitors of this virtual map experience to query our GIS database of trees.
With the ‘Plant Search’ tool shown here, you may interact with the plants on the map by looking for common names, scientific or Latin names, and other criteria. In the screen capture above, the data set has been searched for our namesake species, the Monterey cypress. On the grounds of Olivet Gardens, there are dozens of huge old veteran cypresses, each marked on this map again with an orange circle. Explore our collection to find individual trees of your favorite species!
With the ‘Find and Filter Plants’ tool, viewers may also see all of the trees of an individual plant family, such as Cupressaceae or Magnoliaceae. In the example shown here, the data set has been queried for specimens of the Pinaceae family, which includes pine trees like Monterey pine and the Italian stone pine, as well as our cedar specimens such as Deodar cedar and Blue Atlas cedar. Notice that the individual orange data points can be clicked on within the map, which opens a panel that shares additional information about that individual tree. In this case, the Italian stone pine selected has a DBH (diameter at breast height) of 42 inches, with a height of 60 feet and a spread of 50 feet. What family of trees at Cypress Lawn Arboretum would you like to learn more about? Happy exploring!
One last feature that we have developed is a query tool specifically for DBH. This is a great way to find all trees, regardless of species or family, that are of a particular size. In the screen capture below, the data set has been queried for all trees with a diameter greater than 50 inches. As you can see, one individual Monterey cypress has been selected from this search, a tree that just so happens to be the largest individual Hesperocyparis macrocarpa specimen, by DBH, now growing on our foundational East campus. Perhaps you would like to visit this massive specimen, with a DBH of 150 inches, on your next journey through the Arboretum.
This new way of experiencing the trees of Cypress Lawn is just the beginning of our virtual Arboretum viewer. Stay tuned in the seasons ahead, as we continue to leverage this platform for storytelling, sharing about our new additions and established plantings of the living collection, content about celebrated heritage trees throughout our grounds, and more! Until next time…