...

As an example, consider a plot with 5 trees which has been check cruised. The first 3 trees are a complete match between the measure tree values and the check cruise tree values. Tree 4 has an incorrect Species. Tree 5 has a height that is 20% higher than the check cruise tree and a DBH that is 1 inch smaller than the check cruise tree. At the plot level, the check cruiser noted that the plot was not flagged properly by setting the field ‘Flagged_OK’ to a value of ‘No’recorded a different Plot Condition then the original cruiser.

The Check Cruise Rules include the following rules

• If Species is not equal then deduct 4 points

• If Height is not within 10% then deduct 2 points

• If DBH is not within 1 inch then deduct 3 points

• If plot condition is not flagged properly equal then deduct 5 2 points

...

When the check score is calculated, trees 1-3 have a deduction of 0, tree 4 has a deduction of 4 points and tree 5 has a deduction of 5 points (2 for the height and 3 for the DBH). The plot has a deduction of 9 points from the trees and another 5 2 points due to improper flaggingincorrect plot condition. This results in a total deduction of 14 11 points for the plot, which is used to generate a plot-level check cruise score of 8689.

Managing Check Cruise Rules

...

• Give the Check Cruise Rule a short, concise name that can be used when understanding the deductions that are applied. This name will be included in the excel report and written back to the Plots layer

  • Type the rule name (e.g., ‘Species mismatch’) in the Rule Name text box

• Select the layer that the rule should act upon (typically Plots or Trees)

  • Click on the desired layer in the dropdown list

• Select the attribute Field that will be assessed

  • Click on the desired field (e.g., DBH or Height) in the Field dropdown list

  • There are two special cases that can be selected in addition to the data model fields in the selected layer

    • MAX_DEDUCTION - when this option is used, it sets the maximum amount of points that can be deducted at the Tree or Plot level. This is useful when a single tree has a large number of individual errors and would disproportionately inflate the deductions on the plot. A typical value for this option is 10. This means that even if a Species deduction and a DBH deduction and a height deduction are present on this tree and would sum to a 12 point deduction, the tree’s deduction would max out at 10 if this option was used.

    • ADDED_MISSING_TREE - when this option is used on the Trees layer, it sets the value that should be used when a tree was added or is missing. Typically this is set to the same value as MAX_DEDUCTION but it is sometimes set to an even higher value (e.g., 15).

• Select the Operator that should be used in the test

  • Click on the desired operator in the Operator dropdown list, paying special attention to the difference between < and <= or > and >=

• Type the Value that should be used for the test. For numerical fields, the value is the amount by which the measured tree value and the check cruise tree value can differ by and not accrue a deduction.

  • Check Cruise Rules will compare the absolute difference of values for numerical fields by default. For example, if the standard tree was 50 feet in height and the check cruise tree was 55 feet in height, this will be the same as if the standard tree was 55 feet in height and the check cruise tree was 50 feet in height.

  • For percent comparisons, use '%' (without the single quotes). For example, to set the value to a 5 percent difference, use '%5' as the input to the Value box. 

  • Leave Value empty when using operators "=" or "!=", as this is testing for identical values.

  • For floating point data, use < or > and a small threshold to avoid floating point rounding issues.

  • For Stands and Plots, check cruise scoring works within a single feature, rather than comparing 2 features as it does for Trees.

    • Check cruise rules can assess single fields or compare values between two fields of the same type within that feature.

    • Use "Null" (without quotes) for no value and use field name in curly brackets for field value (e.g., "{DBH}" - without quotes)

• Input the Deduction.

  • Type the amount that should be deducted from the Check Cruise score if the two field differ by the amount in the Value, or if they are different in the case of categorical attributes (non-floating-point attributes) in the Deduction box.