When you plot a new tree, OTISS ‘suggests’ a suitable reference/tag number to use. But this is only a suggestion – you can change this to whatever you like! Whatever reference you use for this tree will guide our suggestion for the next tree you plot.
Use the Customise Survey webpage and edit the Reference field select which Tree Numbering scheme you require.
There are three different methods for making this suggestion. Choose the one that best suits your requirements.
(1) Arb Standard – T01, G01, H01, T02, T03, G02, …
The reference is made up of the letters T/G/H/A/W following by a number. The letter depends on the tree’s Structure, i.e. Tree/Group/Hedge/Area/Woodland. The number increases separately for each different Structure – i.e. each has a separate sequence. Any prefix or suffix remains unchanged.
When a new tree is plotted, we select the appropriate letter for the tree’s Structure, and add 1 to the number part of the reference of the last item plotted for that Structure. E.g. T033 -> T034, G010 -> G011
On the spreadsheet webpage and reports, the trees are ordered alphabetically.
(2) Arb Single – T01, G02, H03, T04, T05, T06, G07, …
The reference is made up of the letters T/G/H/A/W following by a number. The letter depends on the tree’s Structure, i.e. Tree/Group/Hedge/Area/Woodland. The number increases with every new item plotted – all trees/groups/etc in a single number sequence. Any prefix or suffix remains unchanged.
When a new tree is plotted, we select the appropriate letter for the tree’s Structure, and add 1 to the number part of the reference of the last item plotted. E.g. T034 -> G035 -> H036 -> T037
On the spreadsheet webpage and reports, the trees are ordered so the numbers increase regardless of the prefix letters.
(3) OTISS Flexible – ABC-001, ABC-002, ABC-003
The reference is made up of: some (optional) letters; a number; and optionally more letters.
When a new tree is plotted, we simply add 1 to the number part of the reference of the last item plotted. Any letters are simply copied over. E.g. ACL-042 -> ACL-043 -> ACL-044
On the spreadsheet webpage and reports, the trees are ordered alphabetically.
This was the pre-2023 method of creating reference/tag numbers.
Sorting the Tree numbers
It is important that the tree reference/tag numbers can be sorted in OTISS and also in Excel, Word, GIS and other data applications. Unfortunately, the ‘simple’ approach of using T1, T2, .. T10, T11,. T20, T21, etc. does not allow for sensible sorting in Excel, Word, etc. Instead we must adopt an approach where the number of digits in each tag is the same for all the trees.
- When surveying up to 100 trees, you need 2 digits. The following set of tags is recommended: T01, T02, .. T10, G11, .. G20, T21, T99 etc. You will notice that there is always 2 digits in each tag – i.e. the numbers 1 to 9 must have a zero, T01, .. T09.
- When surveying up to 1000 trees, you need 3 digits. The following set of tags is recommended: T001, T002, .. T010, G011, .. G020, T021, .. T100, T101, .. T999. etc. You will notice that there is always 3 digits in each tag – i.e. the numbers 1 to 99 must have leading zeros.
When several people are surveying the same site.
On a new site, you typically start with at number 1 – e.g. T001. But if you change the reference to something else, e.g. T200 then we will follow that lead and make the next number T201.
When you have multiple surveyors on a site, you don’t want them using the same numbers. We recommend that one person starts at number T001, and the other starts at some sensible, larger number e.g. T500, G500, etc.