Overview

The WSG Inventory Management System uses configurable Check Cruise Rules, stored in the Check_Rules table, to:

• Generate check cruise scores within InventoryManager at the tree and plot level, or

• Apply validation (similar to standard Rules) in MobileMap during remeasurment*

*new functionality added at MobileMap 4.4.23 (currently in Beta testing)

Check Cruise Scoring

When used for check cruise scoring, check cruise rules compare values between original cruise plot, tree, or log attributes and the corresponding check cruise (audit) plot, tree, or log attributes.  For more information on Check Cruising in general, please see Inventory Management System: Check Cruising . For more information on how to collect check cruise data in the field with MobileMap, please see MobileMap: Check Cruising . For more information on calculating check cruise scores using the Check Cruise Rules created via instructions on this page, see the relevant section in the InventoryManager export documentation here InventoryManager: Export Inventory Data .

When creating Check Cruise Rules, users define a test and assign a deduction to be applied if the test fails. An example is “if the DBH of the measure tree is off by more than 1 inch, then deduct 3 points”.  When Check Cruise Rules are violated, the deduction amount is subtracted from the individual tree’s score. The sum of the tree level deductions is then calculated for the plot on which those trees were measured. Finally, a plot level score is calculated using the following equation

Example

Open

As an example, consider the rules shown in the screenshot above and 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 previous measurement and a DBH that is 1 inch smaller than the previous measurement. At the plot level, the check cruiser 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 equal then deduct 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 2 points due to incorrect plot condition. This results in a total deduction of 11 points for the plot, which is used to generate a plot-level check cruise score of 89.

Remeasurement Validation

Beginning at MobileMap version 4.4.23 (currently in Beta testing), we have extended the concept of Check Cruise rules to real-time validation of trees when performing remeasurements (check cruising or remeasure of seedling survival plots, permanent plots, repeat measurement research plots, etc.). When used for validation during remeasurement check rules act like standard business rules (e.g., for validation rather than scoring), but compare values for a single field between two trees (the current measurement and the previous measurement) for a single field. This is different than standard business rules which compare values among one or more fields within a single tree.

Example

Open

As an example, consider the rules shown in the screenshot above and the remeasurement of a permanent plot with 5 trees. The first 3 trees are a complete match for all categorical attributes (e.g., Species, Canopy Position) between the current tree values and the previous tree values. Tree 4 has an incorrect Species. Tree 5 has a height that is 25% higher than the previous measurement, and a DBH that is .5 inch smaller than the previous measurement. When the cruiser taps save or back, they see the following error message:

Managing Check Cruise Rules

In order to assist with the management of Check Cruise Rules, InventoryManager provides a dedicated interface for creating and editing Check Cruise Rules.  This user interface is only available to users with the ‘Site Manager’, ‘Data Manager’ or ‘Administrator’ roles in InventoryManager.

To access the Check Cruise Rules user interface, select the ‘Check Rules’ item on the administrator interface in the upper left corner of the appropriate map.

The screenshot below shows this user interface in a typical InventoryManager implementation.

Following the workflow of the user interface above, the process for creating a new check cruise rule is the following:

• 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.

* Note: WSG is working on updates to the Check Rules interface in InventoryManager to support the new Remeasurement Validation functionality in MobileMap 4.4.23. If you need support with this functionality we can help you create rules using the current Check Rules interface in InventoryManager and then modify these rules for Remeasurement Validation functionality in MobileMap.