Mobile-based system for collecting data on tree health status in field protective forest belts in southern Dobrudzha, Bulgaria

In southern Dobrudzha, northeastern Bulgaria, a system of field protective forest belts (FPFBs) was es-tablished in the 1950s to reduce wind speed, prevent soil erosion, retain soil moisture, improve microcli-mate, and increase agricultural yields. Most FPFBs are located within the territories of the State Hunting Enterprise (SHE) Balchik and State Forest Enterprises (SFEs) General Toshevo and Dobrich. Since 2020, the health condition of the FPFBs has significantly declined. In this study, a mobile system based on ArcGIS Field Maps from ESRI, compatible with Android and iOS, was developed. It includes 31 specific fields for assessing the health status of trees in FPFBs, collecting data from fieldwork, and transferring it to electronic records. Between June and August 2024, the system was tested by evaluating the health status and damage of trees in 190 FPFBs across SHE Balchik, SFE General Toshevo, and SFE Dobrich. The advantage of our web-based data collection system is its ability to export data immediately to Excel and formats like CSV, KML, and GeoJSON. It also reduces field data entry time, improves data security, and allows for the inclusion of specific photos of tree damage.