Public interest in Sudden Oak Death remains high as the disease continues to spread and impact more areas. Early in the infestation, information from active publics was key in locating new areas of infestation across the state. The California Oak Mortality Task Force, arborists, and university researchers were repeatedly contacted with reports of new areas of suspected infestations. In response to this concern from the public, we created a web site where visitors could submit the locations of trees that were potentially infected, as well as find recent and officially confimed samples of P. ramorum. This site, OakMapper (www.oakmapper.org), has had thousands of visitors, who have submitted hundreds of locations.
Our first webGIS, now called oakmapper 1.0, served as a clearinghouse for four SOD-related, spatial resources: 1) Google Maps, 2) Google Earth, 3) ArcIMS, and 4) static maps. All of these resources were dependent upon a project administrator to manually update their source data and reload the content to the web site on a quarterly basis. We’ve now updated this site based on Open Source technology, and are making a push to sign up new users to help us locate trees that might have Sudden Oak Death.
The new OakMapper 2.0 is up and running, and we'd like your help in mapping areas of oak mortality around the state. Version 2.0 improves upon the website's prior version with increased functionality and additional tools within an easily navigated interface. Launched by the UC Berkeley Kelly lab in October, OakMapper 2.0 makes it easier for users to explore data, download maps, look at images of oak mortality, and submit suspected locations of oak mortality that may be associated with SOD. The new interface utilizes the familiar background layers and navigation tools from Google Maps. Users are able to draw points and polygons directly on the map as well as attach photos to specific points. The Kelly lab encourages the public to use this site to map suspected cases of SOD and to track their submission by signing up for an account with OakMapper. Registered users of the site can update their information and make comments on other users' points. Official confirmations of P. ramorum are clearly separated from community-submitted points and either set of points can be filtered out.The new OakMapper is found at oakmapper.org. Please consider signing up to be an OakMapper user! The OakMapper was recently featured in the recent journal of the Bay Area Automated Mapping Association.
OakMapper mobile is almost ready for prime time! Stay tuned for release. If you have an iPhone, you will be able to query points near you, and upload information to the OakMapper database from the field.