When Sydney Dwoskin joined Tree Mann Solutions roughly five years ago, much of her work involved tree-condition assessments. The trees had already been surveyed, while she navigated through the woods using static PDF maps on her phone.

Tree Mann began moving its field workflow from static PDFs into Fulcrum, giving arborists interactive tree points over aerial imagery instead of asking them to interpret a static sheet in the woods.

The next step felt natural: if Tree Mann’s arborists were already standing beside the trees, why not collect their locations too?

That question helped bring Bad Elf GNSS into the Tree Mann field kit.

Today, Tree Mann uses digital data collection and Bad Elf positioning to support tree inventories, condition assessments, canopy mapping, planning, and preservation work across Texas. The team collects tree locations, documents conditions, and gives planners and engineers spatial information much earlier in the design process.

Tree Mann Solutions’ transition was not instant. The team had to learn GNSS best practices, Fulcrum, RTK corrections, coordinate systems, and quality-control procedures. Sydney describes the training as critical to that process.

“Bad Elf’s workshop training helped so much!”

As the projects became more sophisticated, accuracy became more important for Tree Mann. The team added RTK corrections, standardized coordinate-system practices, and worked with professional surveyors to check its data and improve field techniques.

Consequently, trees also create one of the tougher environments for GNSS!

Leaves, branches, trunks, buildings, and surrounding structures can interfere with satellite signals. Tree Mann does not assume every point is perfect just because a receiver reports a coordinate. The team prides itself on checking its work.

People often talk about resources as energy, water, minerals, infrastructure, or land.

Trees belong in that conversation. Full stop.

Research consistently shows that urban trees provide measurable ecosystem and human benefits. A U.S. Forest Service study estimated that trees and forests removed 17.4 million tons of air pollution across the contiguous United States in 2010. Researchers estimated the associated health value at $6.8 billion, including more than 850 avoided deaths and 670,000 avoided cases of acute respiratory symptoms (Nowak et al., 2014).

Trees also help cool places. A 2025 review of 115 studies found that urban trees consistently provided stronger cooling than other vegetation types, particularly where dense, tall canopies provided meaningful shade (Alonzo et al., 2025).

An inventory tells people what resources already exist.

And in a time when water, shade, habitat, land, infrastructure, and healthy communities have never been more critical, knowing what exists is clutch. People cannot deliberately manage a resource that has never been inventoried. The connection becomes even stronger when considering human health.

A 2015 study in Toronto combined detailed street-tree data with health information. Researchers found that 10 additional trees per city block were associated with better self-reported health comparable to being seven years younger or having roughly $10,000 more annual income (Kardan et al., 2015). The study showed association rather than proving that trees caused the difference, but the scale of the relationship is striking.

Nature also affects the mind. In a Stanford-led experiment, participants who took a 90-minute walk in a natural environment showed reduced self-reported rumination and reduced activity in a brain region associated with rumination. Participants who walked through an urban environment did not show the same change (Bratman et al., 2015).

People experience trees emotionally, too!

A 2024 study involving 638 residents found connections between urban canopy, satisfaction with tree-related benefits, and attachment to home, street, and neighborhood. Residents associated trees with sense of place, social interaction, and fresh air. Researchers also noted that losing trees can become “a source of distress and solastalgia” (McGrath et al., 2024).

That is placemaking.

A mature tree can become the thing people give directions by. It can be the shade where neighbors talk, the oak children climb, the canopy over a trail, or the tree someone notices is missing before noticing the new building that replaced it. These relationships help explain why urban forests can contribute to attachment to home, street, neighborhood, and a broader sense of place (McGrath et al., 2024).

Think about a place you love.

There is a good chance a tree is somewhere in the picture.

Sydney has simple advice for anyone considering this profession: be ready to work outside.

She knows the heat, early mornings, poison ivy, insects, and physical work are real. She also knows the reward. “There’s no substitute for that life.”

For aspiring arborists, Tree Mann Solutions recommends a few practical steps:

• Learn the trees first. Field identification, biology, soils, risk, health, and proper tree care remain the foundation.
• Learn the technology too. GIS, GNSS, mobile data collection, imagery, and eventually LiDAR can make someone dramatically more useful to a modern arboriculture team.
• Explore ISA. The International Society of Arboriculture supports arboricultural research, education, credentials, and professional development. ISA certification can provide a strong professional pathway as experience grows.
• Know ASCA. The American Society of Consulting Arborists focuses on professional consulting, including inventories, risk assessments, planning, appraisal, and tree protection during construction. Its education and professional network can help arborists move deeper into consulting practice.
• Network relentlessly. Meet surveyors, landscape architects, planners, engineers, GIS professionals, developers, and other arborists. Attend ISA chapter events, ASCA programs, GIS meetings, and local professional conferences. The best field technique someone learns next may come from a neighboring profession.

Most importantly, go outside and hug a tree! Look at the trees in the places you love. Notice their shade, scale, smell, sound, and the space underneath them.

Then imagine that place without them. That is why arborists map.