How would you use an interactive map in the Arboretum?
Georeferenced Database Project Update
After a year of surveying Washington Park Arboretum grid points and digitizing paper maps we have made substantial progress on our georeferenced database project. The first few hundred points were relatively easy to survey. Now remain the most difficult points to find or see with a clear line of sight from a control point. Ground nesting bees and wasps also make getting close to a point challenging to say the least.
We need volunteers! Contact Tracy Mehlin.
UW Botanic Gardens Director, Sarah Reichard, talks with UWTV about her vision for an interactive Arboretum map in this video.
How would you use an interactive map in the Arboretum? What do you want to know about the collections? Leave a comment to let us know.
Click to see photo close-ups
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- Staff surveyor Ryan Garrison standing by the total station with the data collector in hand.
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- An overview of the entire Arboretum with red dots representing surveyed points. Green squares have been digitized from paper maps.
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- A close up of Azalea Way in ArcMap showing roads, paths, beds, water and most important, our plants.
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- A screenshot of ArcMap with a query showing maples with red dots.
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- A query showing plants that were donated to the Arboretum by plantsman Dan Hinkley.
Project accomplishments by the numbers
- Migrated 20,000 records from the Otis Douglas Hyde Herbarium database into the BG-Base database
- 25% of Herbarium database records post migration validated against physical specimens
- 85% of grid points surveyed
- 40% of paper grid maps digitized in ArcMap (geodatabase)
- 6006 out of 18,094 plant specimens have been entered into the geodatabase
Historic Records to be made accessible
The Arboretum Foundation has agreed to give $15,000 to digitize historic paper records from the Curation office. These historic records provide critical clues about the identification and origin of trees and woody plants in the collection. By digitizing the records staff can access the old handwritten note cards and ledgers from their desk and once integration is complete the records will be accessible to everyone. UW Libraries staff will digitize the records and record basic information about each file.
This project is funded by a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services.