I just became familiar with this new tool a couple weeks ago through Scott Morrison @Turfhugger and have already found some pretty good uses for it. Below is the map of the golf course with little green paddles pointing to specific trees that are in need of pruning. I am going to use this map as a work order and to collaborate with my arborist on how I want the job handled. If you click on the small square in the top right corner the map it will expand to the size of your monitor. From there you can click and drag the map around to where ever you want. When you click on a paddle, a photograph of the tree will pop up and you will be able to see first hand on what needs to be done. I hope by doing this it will save time and hopefully money by enabling my arborist to make cost estimates remotely.
Click on a Green Marker for pics and info, if pics are too big click the small box in top right corner
This tool can also help us delineate areas of the property as well. If we need to determine the area of a certain feature like a fairway, green or even our lakes, we can draw a polygon around it and it will tell us the dimensions. There are all kinds of icons that are available to insert into the map. Scott is working with the developer and has already had some golf specific icons placed in the menu.
This program will be very useful in developing an environmental plan for a facility, especially if a course is working on their Audubon certification. By drawing lines you can locate your direction of drainage, show catch basins and drain pipe discharge locations. Some courses have hundreds of bird boxes and this can be used to catalog each one of them.
As far as a communication tool goes, this has unlimited possibilities. I simply made the map and copied the embedded code into the blog. You can also send by email directly from the site as well. Thank you Scott for bringing this tool to light, it will definitely be used frequently. Give it a try, the price is right...it's FREE!
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