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tree

vr.tr.tree · thing-q10884

Let an agent treat a tree as an individual living thing that is also a fixed feature of a place, with an owner, a legal status and a duty of care attached to it.

Thing Registry Physical world and living systems PHY.LIV
Bundle → Layer → Finding → QuestionsClassifiersWhat it isWhy it existsDistinguishing featuresWhat robots and AI may and may not doMoral aspectsOwnersLinks to other meta-modelsIdentity and identifiersDirect propertiesRecognitionCapabilities and actionsHazards and failure modesStandards and interfacesContext of useSources

Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled

4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions

Identification and taxon What kind of tree this is and how that was settled.

Species and authority

The accepted name and who accepts it.

Accepted name and synonyms

The binomial, its authority, and the names it replaces.

  1. What species is this tree, under which accepted name and authority? definition
  2. What evidence settled the identification, and in which season was it made? provenance

Field characters

What can be seen, and when.

Diagnostic characters by season

Which characters are available at which time of year.

  1. Which characters distinguish this species from its look-alikes, and when are they visible? boundary
  2. What should an agent do when identification is attempted outside that season? action
The individual and its place This tree, where it stands, and whose it is.

Position and ownership

Where it stands and who is responsible.

Location and duty holder

The plot, the owner and who owes the duty of care.

  1. Where exactly does this tree stand, and on whose land? definition
  2. Who owes the duty of care for it, and to whom? action

Protection and constraint

Orders, designations and what they forbid.

Protection status

What consent is needed before anything is done.

  1. What protection applies to this tree, under which instrument? provenance
  2. Which works require consent, and what is the penalty for proceeding without it? action
Growth, age and condition How big, how old, how healthy.

Dimensions and age

Height, diameter, crown and the age they imply.

Measured dimensions

The field measurements and what is derived from them.

  1. What are the height, diameter at breast height and crown spread of this tree? measurement
  2. How was age estimated, and what is the uncertainty in that estimate? provenance

Health and defects

Disease, decay, damage and vigour.

Condition assessment

What was found, by whom, and against what method.

  1. What is the condition of this tree, assessed by whom and under what method? measurement
  2. Which finding obliges action rather than re-inspection? action
Risk and management What it might do and what is done about it.

Hazard and target

What could fail and what it would hit.

Hazard and exposure

The failure mode and what is beneath it.

  1. What failure is plausible for this tree, and what would it affect? boundary
  2. How often should it be re-inspected given that exposure? action

Works and their record

Pruning, felling, planting and what was recorded.

Work history

What was done, when, by whom, under what consent.

  1. What work has been carried out on this tree, and under whose consent? provenance
  2. What must be recorded about work so a later dispute can be answered? action

Classifiers Filled

Family
Thing Registry
Category
Physical world and living systems
Entry kind
thing
Plane
PHY
Domain
PHY.LIV
Other names and narrower kinds
individual beech tree, remarkable tree, cultivated tree, Fraxinus excelsior, Amelanchier alnifolia, moringa, Cherry tree, Olea europaea, Juglans regia, national tree, Malus, Slava Peremozhtsiam

What it is Filled

A perennial woody plant with one or more self-supporting stems supporting an elevated crown of branches or leaves, without requiring a single trunk or conventional secondary thickening throughout its life.

Why it exists Filled

Let an agent treat a tree as an individual living thing that is also a fixed feature of a place, with an owner, a legal status and a duty of care attached to it.

Distinguishing features Filled

  • A tree typically has one main self-supporting stem but may have several, and its distinction from a shrub is a convention rather than a strict botanical boundary.
  • Trees are perennial woody plants, although some lack conventional secondary thickening, which is therefore not a universal identifying feature.
  • The individual matters, not just the species: this tree has an owner, an age and a condition.
  • A tree is fixed in place, so it belongs to a plot and to whoever owns that plot.

What robots and AI may and may not do Filled

Must not

  • Fell, prune or damage a tree without the owner's consent and any required permit.
  • Dig within a tree's root protection zone without authorization.
  • Move plants or wood that may carry notifiable pests or diseases.
  • Ignore signs of failure in a tree that stands over people, roads or buildings.

Only with a human decision

  • Felling or heavy pruning of a tree, especially a protected one.
  • Declaring a tree safe or dangerous where people are exposed.

May

  • Identify, measure and monitor trees and report their health and risk.
  • Record trees in an inventory for their owner or a public authority.

Moral aspects Filled

  • Trees live for centuries; a felling decision cannot be undone in a human lifetime.
  • Trees give shade, habitat and cultural meaning to a place and its people.

Who is affected

  • Neighbours and passers-by
  • Wildlife that lives in it
  • Future residents of the place

Owners Filled

Steward

The owner of the land it grows on; public authorities for protected trees.

Master systems

  • Tree protection orders and local tree registers
  • Forest inventories

Links to other meta-models Filled

parent

  • Q757163 - registry parent class

related

  • plant - inherits taxonomy, life stages and habitat questions
  • shrub - the boundary is conventional and different registers draw it differently
  • land parcel - ownership and duty of care follow the land, not the tree
  • tree protection regime - felling and pruning often need consent
  • timber - the material is a separate thing with its own grading and trade

What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled

Identity and identifiers required Filled

  • Vercy registry: vr.tr.tree
  • Wikidata: Q10884 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q10884)
  • accepted binomial: genus species author, year identifies the species, not this tree
  • tree tag or asset number: manager-specific identifies the individual in a managed population
  • position: coordinates for a fixed organism this is a stable part of its identity

Direct properties required Filled

  • height: 3-100 m - the lower bound is a convention separating trees from shrubs
  • trunk diameter at breast height: 0.1-3 m - measured at 1.3 m by convention, and this is the field measurement everything else is derived from
  • age: 10-1000 years - some species far exceed this
  • crown spread: 2-30 m - decides the area affected by roots and by fall

Recognition required Filled

  • Leaf shape and arrangement, which is the primary key in summer and useless for half the year in deciduous species
  • Bark and branching habit, which work all year and are what winter identification relies on
  • Fruit, cone or seed, which is decisive when present and absent most of the time
  • Overall crown form at distance, which suggests a family and rarely settles a species
  • A woody stem from a few metres to over a hundred, carrying a crown whose shape is the most recognisable feature at distance; bark, leaf, flower and fruit are what identify it up close.

Capabilities and actions required Filled

  • observe and identify it, which is season-dependent
  • measure it, which is how age, health and risk are judged
  • prune, fell or plant it, mostly with permission
  • harvest from it - fruit, nuts, sap, timber
  • be harmed by it, when a limb or the whole tree fails

Hazards and failure modes required Filled

  • Limb or whole-tree failure, which is the hazard that drives inspection regimes
  • Root damage from excavation, which kills slowly and is usually noticed years later
  • Disease and pests, some of which are notifiable and change what may be moved
  • Subsidence and drain damage caused by roots, which is a legal dispute more often than an engineering one

Standards and interfaces required Filled

  • Tree preservation orders and equivalent regimes, which forbid work without consent
  • Arboricultural inspection standards, which define how condition and risk are assessed
  • Timber legality regulations, which govern trade in felled wood
  • Protected species law, which can protect what lives in the tree rather than the tree

Context of use required Filled

  • Nothing, in itself. To people it provides shade, timber, fruit, shelter, drainage, carbon storage and the character of a place.
  • by leaf habit: deciduous, evergreen
  • by wood: broadleaf, conifer
  • by setting: forest, plantation, orchard, street, garden, veteran
  • by status: protected, ancient, hazardous, planted, self-seeded

Sources Filled

  1. Wikidata item Q10884: tree - identity and sense of the item
  2. Wikipedia: Tree - general description of the item

Open questions

  • Should the individual tree and the species be separate models, given that duty of care attaches to the individual and identification to the species?
  • How should a veteran or ancient tree be represented when its value is its age rather than its condition?
  • What minimum evidence should support a hazard assessment before an agent may recommend felling?

Machine files

Card as JSON Specification Card backlog vercy.card/1

Provenance

thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed

Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q10884/spec.json