Use the menu on the left for detailed help about the various OTISS features, or click on the topics below for help and guidence for specific questions. Don’t forget the video tutorials below.

How To …

How to create a new Site and Survey - using online maps...


OTISS lets you divide an estate into several ‘sites‘. A ‘site’ could be a single house, a park, a field, a groups of fields, a car park – whatever you want it to be – read more about sites. OTISS provides a set of online road and aerial maps that are sufficiently detailed for many situations – but you can also provide your own maps (see below).

  1. Press the Sites button to goto the Sites webpage. This page lists all the sites for the estate.
  2. Press the Add Site button.
  3. The first thing you will be asked is whether you have your own map for this site. Select ‘No – use the online maps‘ and press the Next button.Site add
  4. The Add Site form appears. Enter a name for the site.
  5. There are optional sections for Contact and Address information for each site. These are useful when you have different contact names, telephone numbers and address for each site. This information is also available on the mobile survey app when going from site to site.
  6. There are optional sections for Tree Safety Risk Assessment Zones and Site Boundaries. These may not be relevant for all sites – and can always be updated later if required.
  7. At the bottom of the form you are asked whether to create a survey for this site. Select ‘Tree Safety’ or ‘Furniture’ as required.
  8. Press the Save button. OTISS will create the site and survey.
  9. You can now use the mobile survey app to download the survey and start surveying.

How to create a new Site and Survey - with your own map...


OTISS lets you divide an estate into several ‘sites‘. A ‘site’ could be a single house, a park, a field, a groups of fields, a car park – whatever you want it to be – read more about sites. It is recommended to only use ‘real’ maps (i.e. ones with geo-spatial or GPS information), and to avoid using PDFs and images (i.e. with no geo-spatial information). Read more about OTISS Maps.

  1. Press the Sites button to goto the Sites webpage. This page lists all the sites for the estate.
  2. Press the Add Site button.
  3. The first thing you will be asked is what type of map you have for this site – read more about OTISS Maps. Select the type and press the Next button. You will be prompted to upload the file(s).Site create
  4. Finally, the Add Site form appears. Enter a name for the site.
  5. There are optional sections for Contact and Address information for each site. These are useful when you have different contact names, telephone numbers and address for each site. This information is also available on the mobile survey app when going from site to site.
  6. There are optional sections for Tree Safety Risk Assessment Zones and Site Boundaries. These may not be relevant for all sites – and can always be updated later if required.
  7. At the bottom of the form you are asked whether to create a survey for this site. Select ‘Tree Safety’ or ‘Furniture’ as required.Sites create survey
  8. Press the Save button. OTISS will create the site, map and survey.
  9. You can now use the mobile survey app to download the survey and start surveying.

See our video tutorials below for loading and optionally geo-referencing a PDF site plan.

How to create Site Boundaries...

You can create one or more boundaries for each site. See Site Boundaries for full details.

How to add a map to an existing site...

You can create a site (and survey) using the online maps provided by OTISS. If you later receive or purchase a site plan or map, then this can be added to the site. It is recommended to only use ‘real’ maps (i.e. ones with geo-spatial or GPS information), and to avoid using PDFs and images (i.e. with no geo-spatial information). Read more about OTISS Maps.

  1. Log into the OTISS website and press the Sites button to goto the Sites webpage. This page lists all the sites for the estate.
  2. First we must upload the maps into OTISS.MapLayer create
    1. Press the Maps&Plans button (at the top of the list of sites). The Maps&Plans page lists the maps and site plans that you have loaded.
    2. Press the Add button. The first thing you will be asked is what type of map you have for this site. See important note above.
    3. Select what type of map you have and press the Next button. You will be prompted to upload the file(s). When the files have been uploaded you can update the map name and info. Press the Save button.
  3. Once the new map have been successfully added above, we must now assign the map to the site(s).
    1. Press the Sites button to goto the Sites webpage. This page lists all the sites for the estate.
    2. Select the required site and press the Edit button. In the “Map & Plan” drop-down field, select the new map. Press Save. You can assign the same map to several sites.
  4. Now we can see the trees plotted on the new map. Press the Maps button to goto the Maps webpage. Select the site, and you should see the new map being displayed on the screen. Read more above using the OTISS Maps page.
  5. You can also the map on the mobile survey app. On the OTISS survey app, press Downloaded Surveys and select the survey. First you must press Sync to download the new map information and then press StartSurvey. The new map should appear.

How to re-survey an existing site...

Sometime after the initial survey, you will want to re-survey the site to see what has changed. This could be a planned annual/biennial survey or an ad-hoc after a storm – re-surveys can be done whenever required. It is important to keep an audit trail of surveys, so we create new surveys each time. Read more about surveys.Survey grid

  1. Goto the Surveys page on the website.
  2. Select the site in question in the Site dropdown box and the table shows all surveys carried out on that site.
  3. Check that all the surveys in the table have a Status of ‘closed’. If necessary, Edit each survey and set the Status to ‘closed’. It is recommended that only one survey (of each type) for each site should be ‘active’, the others should be ‘closed’. Otherwise it can get confusing!
  4. Select the most recent survey and press the Re-Survey button.
  5. Select the newly created survey and press the Edit Survey button – update the details as required. Press Save.
  6. Assign the appropriate users to carry out the survey.
  7. You can now use the mobile survey app to download the new survey. The app will also download the most recent inspection data for each tree/item from the previous surveys.
  8. As you re-survey each tree, the old data is loaded, which you then change as required, then a new record is created as part of the new survey. Initially the new survey has no inspections of its own, but this number increases as you re-survey each tree/item.
  9. Finally use the mobile survey app to sync the new data back to the OTISS website where you can check and process the survey data.
  10. Later when all the survey work is done, you can select the survey and press the Complete Survey button to mark it as ‘closed’.

How to split an existing site into two...

After some time using OTISS to survey trees, you may decide to change how the sites are arranaged; or to spilt a large site into smaller sites; or merge part of one site with an adjacent site. This can be achieved by setting up ‘Active’ surveys on the two sites and transfering each tree from its current survey (and current site) to a new survey (and new site).

The following steps are for splitting a site into two, but the same principle applies to moving trees between any sites.

  1. Set the current survey’s status to Active.
  2. Create a new site and survey, and set the survey status to Active. Note, both the ‘From’ and ‘To’ surveys are Active.
  3. On the web-browser, Edit each tree to be moved (using the Map or TreeSafety page).
  4. Change the “Survey (Site)” dropdown box as required and press Save.
  5. Note: at present we don’t have a way for doing multiple trees at a time.

How to give new staff access to the estate...

You can provide your staff (and trusted volunteers) access to the OTISS website and survey apps. They will see all the same maps, survey data and reports. You can setup your client as a ‘Viewer’ (not allowed to make any changes), ‘Surveyor’ (only carry out assigned surveys) or ‘Manager’ (work with you to survey and manage the estate).

  1. There is an annual subscription to pay to allow your staff to use OTISS. Goto the costs page to pay the “Additional Users” subscriptions.
  2. The OTISS staff will tell you when the new subscription has been activated. Then you can proceed with the following steps.
  3. Log into OTISS website and press the Estate button.
  4. Click on the Access tab, and then press the Register User button.
  5. Fill in the form to create the user account. Enter their email address and make up an initial password for them. Select what level of Access Level you want for them – usually this is ‘Manager’ or ‘Surveyor’. Press the Save button to register the new user.
  6. OTISS will immediately send a verification email to the user’s email address. This email will have some instructions for them to follow so that they can verify the account.
  7. Ring/email/tell them the password that you setup.
  8. The new user can now login to OTISS to see all the trees, maps and reports.  They can change their own password if they wish.

At any later date, you can change the level of access or remove the user as follows.

  • Click on the Estate button.
  • Click on the Access tab, and you will see the list of users that have been given access to the estate.
  • Select the user in the table and press the pencil icon to change a user’s access level or press the trash bin icon to remove the user’s access from the estate.

How to give Arb Consultants access to the estate...

You can provide your Arb Consultants access to your estate so that they can help work with you to survey and manage the estate. The consultants must already have a separate OTISS ‘Arb Consultant’ account.

  • Log into OTISS website and press the Estate button.
  • Click on the Access tab, and you will see the list of users that have been given access to the estate.
  • Press the Add User button, enter their OTISS login name and select an access level – typically  ‘Manager’ (i.e. work with you to survey and manage the estate).

How to allow OTISS support staff to view the estate...

All your estate and survey data is private to you, and only visible when you login to OTISS or the survey apps. But sometimes the OTISS support staff may need access your estate so that they can help resolve problems or provide help and guidence on the best way to use the OTISS features. Once you provide access, OTISS staff can login to the OTISS website, select your estate and see the maps and survey data. At any time you can withdraw this access and possibly re-apply it in the future as required.

  1. Log into OTISS website and press the Estate button,
  2. Click on the Access tab. Press the Support Staff button. Check and confirm the operation.
  3. OTISS staff can now select your client and see the maps and survey data, and can do/see everything that you can do.

At a later point you can remove this privilege as follows.

  • Log into OTISS website and press the Estate button,
  • Click on the Access tab, and you will see the list of users that have been given access to the estate.
  • Select the “otiss@intrinsica.co.uk” user in the table and press the Remove User button.

Tutorial Videos …

To get the most out of these tutorials; first sign up for the Free Trial and download the sample surveys onto your phone/tablet. Then, as you view the videos, you can press the pause button and then try things out for yourself on your own survey. Then continue the tutorial at your own pace.

Remember that all our webpages our webpages have a Help button, and every screen on the survey apps have a ? icon or Help menu. These provide valuable help and explanations.

Please let us know how what other aspects of OTISS you would like tutorials for.

Overview of how to use OTISS to carry out a survey.

Overview (in three parts) of how Estate Managers would use OTISS to carry out TreeSafety and Outdoor Furniture surveys. Note: there is no voice-over on these videos – just subtitles.

Overview Part 1 – In the office: Setup a site and customise the survey.

Overview Part 2 – When on-site: use the OTISS survey app to collect data.

Overview Part 3 – Back in the office: look at the data and generate reports.

Loading a PDF site plan.

Loading a CAD drawing.

Geo-referencing a PDF site plan or aerial image.

Printing maps – Downloading PDFs and JPEGs

Using Excel Report Templates for customized reports

Please let us know how what other aspects of OTISS you would like tutorials for.