How community checks work

The map is only as good as the data behind it, and people walking the forest can see things the data can’t. Confirm what’s right, flag what’s wrong and add what’s missing. Here’s what happens to your reports.

Open Community in the app → See the discrepancy report

The short version

The register stays the record

Your reports sit alongside the City of London’s Veteran Tree Register. They never overwrite it.

Two people make it count

When two or more different people agree a tree is wrong, it shows a “Questioned by the community” note. It stays on the map.

People review places

Changes to pubs, cafés and shops are always checked by a person before anything is touched.

We collect what people find and pass it on to the City of London so the register can be corrected at source. The current findings are public in the discrepancy report. You earn points as you go, and no account is needed.

Checking a tree

Open any tree in the app and use Help check this tree. Standing next to it, you can say:

It’s here, and the tag matches: The tree is where the map says, with the right tag.
No tag, but it looks right: A tree is here but has no tag, and it looks like the one listed.
No tag, and I doubt it: No tag, and it doesn’t look like the tree listed.
A different tree is here: A different tree stands at this spot.
There’s no tree here: Nothing is at the reported location.
Tag found, map is wrong: You’re at the tag, but the map shows it somewhere else. We record where you’re standing.

Your own report shows straight away, and the map highlights everything you’ve marked. Other people see the result after the next hourly update, so it can take an hour or two.

Adding a missing tree

Found a tagged tree that isn’t on the map? On the Community screen, choose Add a missing tree. You’ll need two things.

Its tag number

Printed on the tag. This is what identifies the tree, so we can tell when two people have found the same one.

To be standing right next to it

Your position becomes the tree’s position, so you need a good GPS fix: accurate to 30 metres or better. The form shows the accuracy and won’t submit until it’s good enough.

If the tag is already on the map, we’ll point you to that tree instead. A new tree is shown to everyone once a second person has found it too.

Checking a place

Pubs, cafés, shops and other places have a Help check this place card at the bottom of their screen. You can confirm a place is still right, or say it has closed, moved, changed name, has wrong details or is the wrong type of place.

Reports about places are never applied automatically. Each change becomes a report that a person reviews, and further reports about the same place are added to it.

What happens to your reports

You report from the appIf you’re offline, it’s saved on your device and sent when you’re back online.
Reports are compared every hourThe same device repeating itself counts once, and reports made from further than 10 metres from the tree don’t count towards points. You can still send them: the app tells you when you’re too far away.
Where people agree, the tree is markedWhere they disagree, it’s held for a person to look at.
We pass differences to the City of LondonWe ask for a corrected dataset, and once a new one arrives, resolved notes are cleared.

Points and ranks

Points build up through four ranks. Confirming a place is still right earns nothing, it just hides that place’s check. Your score and a log of everything you’ve reported are on the Community screen. Scores are private for now.

Seedling

0 points

Sapling

5 points

Woodward

20 points

Warden

50 points

1 + 11 point when you verify a tree, and 1 more when someone else independently confirms it.
1 + 3A new tree earns 1 point, and 3 more once a second person finds it.
2A correction that others agree with.
10Your report turns out to be right: the City of London updates its register in a later data release.
3You report a place that has changed and the report is confirmed.
1Feedback or a bug report you sent gets fixed.

Privacy

You don’t need an account. Your reports are tied to a random identifier stored on your device, which you can clear at any time by clearing the site’s data. Your location is used to check you’re close to what you’re reporting. See the privacy and terms page for the full details.

Ready to help?

Open any tree or place in the app and tap “Help check”. Spotted a problem with the app itself? Use Send feedback on the Community screen.

Open Community in the app → See the discrepancy report