As more people begin to use your tree map and add their trees to the map each and every edit they make to the map is recorded. If someone only adds a tree to the map it is recorded. Anything that is changed on the map is recorded and can be seen on the “Edits” page. The “Edits” page is public and can be viewed by anyone.
This posting is about the various functions of the “Edits” page and how you can use the “Edits” page as a tool to engage the community who are actively using your tree map and those who are not actively using your tree map.
We have created a way on the “Edits” page to be able to sort through “Type” or “Object ID” or “Edited by” fields. You don’t need an OpenTreeMap account to access the “Edits” page this means anyone can see who is adding to the tree map. Below are ways to edit and sort the data on your tree map.
To find the “Edits” page you will click on the “View Edits” tab at the top of your tree map webpage.
After you navigate to the “Edits” page you are able to click on the different column fields you want to sort by.
One way you can sort edits is by the “Type” by clicking on the either “Tree” or “Planting Site” inside the table.
If you wanted to see all the edits done by a user you can click under the “Edited by” column on the username you want to sort by.
You can also sort by the “Object ID” This is helpful if you wanted to see all the edits that pertain to a certain Tree despite the user name. For instance, if you are browsing your tree map and clicked on a tree and saw something seemed incorrect, you are able to go to your “Edits” page and look up that Tree’s number under the “Object’s Id” column. Then you would be able to see who made the edit to the field that seems incorrect. You could then track other edits by this user to identify if they are making the correct edits to trees or if they are being malicious. This allows for people in the community to take some action and responsibility for the trees in their neighborhood. In a sense they can feel some ownership over those trees by ensuring the correct information is being posted on the tree map.
To find the tree number you will need to navigate to the “Detail” page for that particular tree by either clicking on it in the map or from the “Edits” page as seen in the GIF below. Once you are on the “Detail” page you will see a heading titled “Tree Information”, just under this heading, the first row is titled “Tree Number” next to that will be the assigned number for that tree. Only trees will have a tree number, planting sites will not.
If you ever need to start over and reset your sorting. Just click on the “Reset” button found at the top of the “Edits” page.
Now that you know the various functions of the “Edits” page here are some way to use it to engage your community.
One way to use the “Edits” page is to find out who is making the most contributions to the tree map. You can see who the active members in the community are and have a friendly competition and award the most active member such as the “Tree Mapper of the Month” and announce that through various media outlets.
Being able to showcase those who are actively using the tree map will show others in the community how easy and fun mapping trees can be.
Another way using this feature can help you engage the community is creating a transparent system. Anyone with or without a OpenTreeMap account and view the “Edits” page and see who is adding what to the map. This allows for people to click on a tree in their neighborhood and see what user added the tree. Being transparent helps more people in the community feel included in the process and builds trust in the community.
Lastly, the “Edits” page is a great way to show the concept of consensus. The idea of consensus improves the likelihood of people to begin using your tree map. For an example; you can generate a report showing that user “XYZ” has mapped 10 trees in neighborhood “ABC” for those 10 trees you can see that there was 42 gallons of stormwater filtered. You can states from this that before those 10 trees weren’t part of the city’s inventory and know they are aware of an addition 42 gallons of stormwater being filtered thus helping they better know where to target more planting sites. This can show community members the power of mapping their trees and show how much value trees bring to the neighborhood and community.
Hope these tips are helpful and you find the above suggestions useful in way to connect with your different communities.
Note: All the information available to the public on the “Edits” page is anonymous and only the username is visible.
