MonTREEal
A Tree Planning Environment for the city of Montreal.
As described in the first deliverable, our TreePLE (Tree Planning Environment) system, named MonTREEal, allows for tree management in an urban environment. This system can be used by regular individuals, residents, and arborists alike, and can be used to see the various trees that exist on the island on Montreal. Our system is centered around this city, however, it can be expanded to include any city in the world.
Our MonTREEal has two frontends: Web and Android, and each of these is targeted to a specific kind of user. First, the Android frontend is targeted to the three kinds of potential users of our TreePLE app, that is, the regular common folk, residents, and scientists. As it is a mobile application, it is easy to carry around and for users to use on-the-go. Thus, you will find only the basic features on the Android app, including planting a tree, and marking a tree for cut down. Each of these features can be used through the Google Maps API that we have implemented, which has markers to show each tree. When a tree is tapped, several things happen. First, a small information window appears over the tree showing the tree species, height, owner name, and status (i.e. is it healthy, diseased, or marked for cut down). Next, a button appears which can be used to mark a tree for cut down. There is also a button to refresh the map and view and changes that the user has made. The database is updated in real-time based on these changes, and can also be seen across the Web frontend (described below). Thus, any user can walk around the city of Montreal and discover the different tree species they live among, as well as indicate if they have planted a tree or if they think that a tree should be cut down. It is important to note that, while marking a tree for cut down updates the system's database, these changes invite a scientist to inspect the tree in question and confirm or veto these changes. In the future, it would be optimal to include a login feature for Android to ensure that users can only make requests on the trees that belong to them.
The Web frontend, on the other hand, has been designed for the scientific community. More features are available on the Web frontend and, because of this, we have created a login to ensure that only members who know what they are doing can tamper with the system. Thus, after registering and subsequently logging in, a scientist can do any number of things. Among these, they can list all of the trees in the system. The key feature on the Web frontend, however, is the forecasting. They must first obtain a list all of the trees within a circular area around a specified location. This can be done by inputting the desired location (i.e. longitude and latitude), as well as the radial distance in km. By obtaining this list, scientists can calculate three sustainability attributes of this area: the biodiversity index, the carbon sequestrations, as well as the monthly amount of water that is necessary for the trees in this area to grow healthily. Scientists can also add or remove trees from the forecast to see how these changes will impact these sustainability attributes, and thus, the state of the ecosystem in which they are found. Lastly, the Web frontend also has a Google Maps API indicating where all of the trees in the database are, visually.
Each of these features are described in further detail in the Key Features and Extra Features wiki pages.
While these are only some features, many more can be added in future iterations of the project, and can allow for a multitude of users and disciplines to work together and see their affect on the environment we live in. Some of these are described in the Other Features page.
- Course: ECSE 321: Introduction to Software Engineering (Winter 2018)
- University: McGill University
- Professor: Daniel Varró
- Teaching Assistant: Márton Búr
- Mentor: Camilo Garcia La Rotta