If you were interested in adding trees to the database, how would you know what's already there ?

Uh oh. I was not able to proceed past the first question because I wasn't able to choose musical note, smiley, musical note for my zone.
Perhaps there is a way someone can click on a state or shaded region on the map to be taken to a dynamic list of proven trees for that area then as you tick off criteria, the list shrinks? That would be sooper kool.

Hello,
Thanks for your responses. You can check if a tree is already in the database by entering the criteria for that tree in the find a tree page and see if it comes up. If not, it is not there.

iforgotitsonevermind,
I considered something similar, but it is a huge undertaking coding wise, and there simply are too many trees by state or individual criterion to list in that fashion (6.9 million). Here, you put in what you have and it gives you the trees that are ideally matched (took about a week to make). I am slowly adding trees to the database and eventually I will add some interactive stuff like click on your zone, and each tree having it's own page, links etc.

Thanks,
Werner J Stiegler

GrüÃe Werner:

if you're interested in collaboration, I'm writing several papers/presentations now about tree proximity to solar panels, and their heights after certain time periods. PM me and we'll see if there is opportunity for collaboration. Will be back in office Monday.

Dan

Couldn't get it to work, just got this error message:

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Warning: DOMNodeList::item() expects parameter 1 to be long, string given in /home/banyan/www/dev/treefinder/treeadd.php on line 66

Fatal error: Call to a member function item() on a non-object in /home/banyan/www/dev/treefinder/treeadd.php on line 66
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Also some of the criteria aren't clear; what does "Native Species" mean? Native to your location, or to the user's location?

And "Latin name (Genus Species)" . . . that should of course be (Genus species) - species epithets are always lower case.

Needs scientific data entry ability too, in metres.

Resin

I don't see why it would be such a huge undertaking.
Back in the day I would have just created a server side image map. After the initial image map where the user selects their location then it's basically off to a site like the TAMU tree selector.

I admit though when a database is involved, that can make things a lot more complicated.

What I do now is send it off the web designer in india who will do it in flash for about $15 an hour and have it done very quickly and make it look really modern. In fact nowadays, they'd skip right over the choose your location bit, and use the users IP address to determine the location automatically.

Anyway I tried to use Banyan and after entering my details, I got the following error message...
Warning: DOMNodeList::item() expects parameter 1 to be long, string given in /home/banyan/www/dev/treefinder/Tree Finder.php on line 65

Fatal error: Call to a member function item() on a non-object in /home/banyan/www/dev/treefinder/Tree Finder.php on line 65

I encourage you to get it off the ground because if it's anything near as useful as the TAMU site this could fast become one of the most recommended sites on here so long as it was not just some arborday tree store type of "find your trees by zone" kind of search but instead actual proven trees that are adapted to the users locale.

If you decide to go the imagemap route, I would also suggest that you do not use cold hardiness zones as I feel they do not help much in this case. zone 6 northeast US is not zone 6 southwest US. Rather, please use a physiographic map.

Altho not as reliable, you can use something like coffeecup imagemap maker to create a client-side imagemap but server-side image maps are better if you have the time to set up the coordinates. You may decide to start with client side to get the site off the ground then later go to server side or flash.

Hello,
Thank you for your input. I apologize for the error you received, it was a typo on my part.

Resin, I have changed the Species to species. Thank you for catching that. I also have indicated North America as the location for species nativity.

I will eventually try to build up to location specific, but I will need to build a large user base to add trees by location. Without the user base to provide the information almost every search would turn up empty.

Thanks,
Werner J Stiegler

So this is going to rely on user contributions for content?
Sort of like avesDAy ardenGay otDay omCay? (We're otNay alloweday otay asay itay onay erehay)

There's such potential to get some really factual content and make this a truly useful site. Don't ruin it by leaving it up to web visitors and their biases.

You should read "The Wisdom of Crowds".
The net product of everyone operating upon their own biases is neutral, thus leading sites like wikipedia to actually have fewer fallacies than encyclopedia britanica.

Cheers,
Werner J Stiegler

Worked out a few bugs the last few days. Now if there are no trees in the database it won't put out white space for each potential scenario. Should be much easier to enter new trees as well.

-Werner J Stiegler

I've still not managed to get it to find a single tree for me yet, trying various different combinations. Even tried adding one or two trees and then putting in the same parameters, and it won't find them.

What trees are in the database so far? A "show all" feature would help.

Resin

So if people start inputting rare cultivars and things that nobody can find anymore and someone that's looking for a street tree and is suggested to plant stewartia, then what is the usefulness in that?

People on the web are looking for information and they want it fast. I think the statistic goes, you have about a minute for site visitors to find what they're looking for or they'll click away.

If you haven't already take a look at the TAMU tree selector site. IT's got an Express tree selector, a custom tree selector and the best graphics I've seen on any tree site. It doesn't overwhelm you with choices either. There's also a section that gives information on how to plant and prune.

It's one of the best tree sites on the web. It's limited to texas though. We need you to fill in the blanks on other states.

Hello Resin,
Thank you for your feedback. The outputs were not coming through because of a confusion of which files to read from you should be able to find trees now. Also, you do not need to check for trees before adding them anymore, it will tell you if the tree is already in the database and will not add duplicates. Lastly, if a tree shows up in a search and is not correct, there is a button that allows it to be flagged for removal by myself (the moderator). I hope this is a bit more useful. I will eventually have to add a difficulty rating whereby the selection can be narrowed to beginner, intermediate, or experienced.

iforgotitsonevermind,
There are far too many trees and far too many states for me to ever consider putting something like that together. If I were rich or blessed with eternal life I may attempt such a thing.

Cheers,
Werner J Stiegler

I disagree. There's actually quite few trees that are best adapted to an area. If you focus on that, you can send out some letters to horticultural authorities in the various regions and get lists of the best trees to use.

You don't even need a database if you do that.

You can build an image map in one night and there's lots of clipart images of trees that can be purchased and published. I have a number of them in a clipart collection.

It sounds like you want to do yet another forum type site where you can moderate and rule over the users with the final word in the ensuing squabbles over which trees "suck."
Frankly we've got enough of that.

This is the last time I'm going to chime in because it seems your mind is made up but I implore you to reconsider your goals and create a site that will truly have some value and some traffic. It's not going to happen overnight and it's going to take a lot of hard work.

I will remind you though that if you go the route of forum type site, you will not be able to come into a forum such as this one and post links to it to generate traffic. If you've been here any length of time you know what happens if you do that.

I still can't get any output from the site!

Resin