We set ourselves the challenge of collating London’s tree data into one open source place to get a picture of London’s trees. We requested tree data from London boroughs and TfL in late 2014. The data mainly covers street trees, although it also includes some park trees, and contains location and species information for over 700,000 trees. It is estimated that there are around eight million trees in London, so this information is only a partial illustration of the species and location of trees in London.

There are several potential benefits to the public sharing of tree data. We hope that visualising tree data and providing access to it in one place will help to raise the public profile of the important contribution of trees to our urban environment and also provide operational benefits for tree managers. Sharing and standardising data could provide essential information for the strategic management of the urban forest. For example, it could help to assess species diversity and threats from pests and plant diseases across London and also help identify areas for additional planting.

We note that the process of collating and cleaning the tree data we received in 2014-15 has been complex and lengthy due to the variety of systems and formats in place for recording tree data. A more standardised method of recording data for trees in the public realm could improve this in the future.

Notes on the data:

• Data was not received from six boroughs. One other borough did not record location data in a form that was possible to easily map and so those trees could not be included. We aim to add any additional data received to the Datastore and online map.
• Whilst the data was provided in 2014-15 the trees will have been surveyed some time before this and so some records may be several years old.
• The data received varied significantly by borough. Some boroughs have only included trees on highways, whilst others have included trees on housing land, in schools or in parks. In some cases trees were recorded only when work was carried out.
• There is not a consistent or agreed format for collecting or recording tree data across London. This presents a challenge in collating data across multiple boroughs. Many boroughs collect a range of information about their trees (e.g. age, height). However this varied by borough in terms of the information collected and categorisations used so that the GLA was not able to standardise this information.
• The GLA requested tree species information as common names. Five boroughs only had Latin names recorded. The common names given also varied widely in terms of consistency of names, spelling, etc. As such, the GLA has gone through the data and standardised the names to come up with a simplified common name for display on the tree webmap (e. g. “Pear”). These are the common names for the 22 types of tree appearing most frequently in the data (which encompass 90% of all trees), with the remaining trees categorised as “Other”. We have also left the species name as provided by the borough in the data. In total over 2,000 different species of tree were recorded, grouped into over 100 types of tree using the common names.
• The ‘tree ID’ number has been added to the data to help map it. This number is not linked to borough’s tree management systems. Although for future data updates it would be helpful to establish such a link.

Click on the image below to view the data mapped.

Warning: Large file size may result in a long download time

showing location of individual trees on private land which are covered by Tree Protection Orders; these protect the trees from works and felling without council approval

A point feature class representing trees outside of natural forested lands within the municipal boundaries of the City of London as identified through aerial imagery.

A high resolution map of tree canopy cover for Greater London was produced from aerial imagery using machine learning techniques. The map was produced by Breadboard Labs in collaboration with the Greater London Authority as part of a Breadboard Lab’s European Space Agency funded project, Curio Canopy . The algorithms and machine learning based techniques used to produce the canopy map were developed using Google Earth Engine which was also leveraged to perform the processing needed to create a pan-London high resolution (25 cm per pixel) tree canopy data. Full details of the methodology are documented here. Final canopy layers have been made available to download below in a geospatial format (KML). The pan-London high resolution canopy layer has also been aggregated to: hexagon grid, Lower Super Output Area (LSOA), Ward (2014) and London Borough geographies.

Tree crown layer for Camden, UK produced by analysing LiDAR data provided by the UK Environment Agency.

The growth dataset grouped by species is compared to the top trees in the 2015–2016 TreesCount! Street Tree Census (termed 2015 data) as taken from NYC data [1]. The growth database is missing two trees that are in the top 15 of the 2015 data: Cherry (rank = 7) and Sophora (rank = 10).

This is a new tool to help decision-makers choose which locations within London might be prioritised for tree planting. This tool presents the Curio Canopy – London Tree Canopy Cover map at ward scale[1], alongside several other environmental and social datasets. There are multiple factors that influence both the existing variation in tree canopy cover across the capital, and the potential for increasing canopy cover, including population density, land use, differences in natural vegetation and existing habitats, soil type and topography. This tool is not a prescriptive guide to where canopy cover should be increased. It is designed as a tool to help decision-makers including local authorities, NGOs and funders, as well as Londoners, to identify where canopy cover is low, and where further consideration might be given to increasing canopy cover, based on a suite of different factors. [1] Wards correct as of March 2019. The City of London is included as a single ward.

The dataset contains polygons for Tree Preservation Order Schedule Items within the London Borough of Barnet. Tree Preservation Orders are made by the local planning authority to protect specific trees, groups or areas of trees or woodlands in the interests of public amenity – and formal consent is required for pruning or removing a tree so protected. An application form and guidance notes can be downloaded from the Planning Portal or Council’s website. It is an offence to contravene an Order by damaging or carrying out work on a protected tree without getting the necessary written consent of the London Borough of Barnet (as local planning authority). Further information can be found in the ‘Tree Preservation Orders and trees in conservation areas’ category of Planning Practice Guidance on the Gov.uk website. This data is an active and changing record of Tree Preservation Orders in the London Borough of Barnet and does not include trees that are covered by the more general conservation areas provisions. *Footnote - Barnet is one of the Local Planning Authorities that received Government funding to improve their planning services through the Local Digital Fund. This aims to digitise Planning to make land and housing data easier to find, understand, use and trust. This data is also available on View planning and housing datasets with geographic location data on an interactive map here. Map of planning data for England | Planning Data (TPOs) Licence This dataset has been published by the London Borough of Barnet under the Open Government Licence (OGL) (v3). The licence has been applied following the Public Sector Mapping Agreement 'presumption to publish' process. Acknowledgements Please acknowledge the Information Provider through the following attribution statement: © London Borough of Barnet, 2024, OGL v3.0 Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right, 2024

The data is between growth rates from the NYC growth database and continuous data (Table 1) that may impact growth rates.

The numbers next to each name indicate the source of the data.

This map was created by the GLA in 2017 as a preliminary analysis of the potential for woodland creation in London’s Green Belt, which covers 35,000 hectares. The map shows land in London’s Green Belt which could have potential for woodland creation, described as, ‘plantable areas’, based on an assessment of land use data.

Zbiór danych zawiera wielokąty dla elementów harmonogramu nakazu ochrony drzewa w londyńskiej dzielnicy Barnet. Lokalny organ ds. zagospodarowania przestrzennego wydaje nakazy ochrony drzew w celu ochrony określonych drzew, grup lub obszarów drzew lub lasów w interesie użyteczności publicznej, a przycinanie lub usuwanie tak chronionego drzewa wymaga formalnej zgody. Formularz wniosku i wytyczne można pobrać z portalu planowania lub ze strony internetowej Rady. Przestępstwem jest naruszanie Zakonu poprzez uszkadzanie lub wykonywanie prac na chronionym drzewie bez uzyskania niezbędnej pisemnej zgody London Borough of Barnet (jako lokalnego organu planistycznego). Więcej informacji można znaleźć w kategorii „Nakazy ochrony drzew i drzewa na obszarach chronionych” w wytycznych dotyczących praktyk w zakresie planowania na stronie internetowej Gov.uk. Dane te są aktywnym i zmieniającym się zapisem nakazów ochrony drzew w londyńskiej dzielnicy Barnet i nie obejmują drzew objętych bardziej ogólnymi przepisami dotyczącymi obszarów ochrony. *Przypis - Barnet jest jednym z lokalnych organów planowania, które otrzymały fundusze rządowe na poprawę swoich usług planowania za pośrednictwem Lokalnego Funduszu Cyfrowego. Ma to na celu cyfryzację planowania, aby dane dotyczące gruntów i mieszkań były łatwiejsze do znalezienia, zrozumienia, wykorzystania i zaufania. Dane te są również dostępne na stronie View planning and housing datasets with geographical location data on an interactive map here. Mapa danych planistycznych dla Anglii _ Planowanie danych (TPO)

Licencja Ten zbiór danych został opublikowany przez London Borough of Barnet na podstawie licencji Open Government Licence (OGL) (v3). Licencja została zastosowana zgodnie z procesem „domniemania publikacji” określonym w porozumieniu w sprawie mapowania sektora publicznego. Podziękowania

Proszę potwierdzić dostawcę informacji za pomocą następującego oświadczenia o przypisaniu: © London Borough of Barnet, 2024, OGL v3.0 Zawiera dane OS © Crown copyright and database right, 2024Lokalny organ ds. zagospodarowania przestrzennego wydaje nakazy ochrony drzew w celu ochrony określonych drzew, grup lub obszarów drzew lub lasów w interesie użyteczności publicznej, a przycinanie lub usuwanie tak chronionego drzewa wymaga formalnej zgody. Formularz wniosku i wytyczne można pobrać z portalu planowania lub ze strony internetowej Rady. Przestępstwem jest naruszanie Zakonu poprzez uszkadzanie lub wykonywanie prac na chronionym drzewie bez uzyskania niezbędnej pisemnej zgody London Borough of Barnet (jako lokalnego organu planistycznego).Więcej informacji można znaleźć w kategorii „Nakazy ochrony drzew i drzewa na obszarach chronionych” w wytycznych dotyczących praktyk w zakresie planowania na stronie internetowej Gov.uk. Dane te są aktywnym i zmieniającym się zapisem nakazów ochrony drzew w londyńskiej dzielnicy Barnet i nie obejmują drzew objętych bardziej ogólnymi przepisami dotyczącymi obszarów ochrony. *Przypis - Barnet jest jednym z lokalnych organów planowania, które otrzymały fundusze rządowe na poprawę swoich usług planowania za pośrednictwem Lokalnego Funduszu Cyfrowego.Ma to na celu cyfryzację planowania, aby dane dotyczące gruntów i mieszkań były łatwiejsze do znalezienia, zrozumienia, wykorzystania i zaufania. Dane te są również dostępne na stronie View planning and housing datasets with geographical location data on an interactive map here. Mapa danych planistycznych dla Anglii _ Planowanie danych (TPO)

Licencja

Ten zbiór danych został opublikowany przez London Borough of Barnet na podstawie licencji Open Government Licence (OGL) (v3). Licencja została zastosowana zgodnie z procesem „domniemania publikacji” określonym w porozumieniu w sprawie mapowania sektora publicznego.

Podziękowania

Proszę potwierdzić dostawcę informacji za pomocą następującego oświadczenia o przypisaniu:

© London Borough of Barnet, 2024, OGL v3.0

Zawiera dane OS © Crown copyright and database right, 2024