Digital Platforms for Urban Tree Inventories and Green Infrastructure Management: A Multi-Criteria Assessment of Functional Maturity, Data Portability, and Tree-Safety Workflows

Urban tree inventories increasingly support municipal green infrastructure management, but software selection can constrain data reuse, field workflows, environmental reporting, and tree-safety documentation. This study evaluated 29 anonymized digital platforms using an application-specific multi-criteria framework covering Management and Use, Data Storage and Export, Functionality and Features, Cost and Licensing, Environmental and Scientific Approach, and Tree Safety. Each platform was assessed once during the March–December 2025 study period using the functionality and evidence available at the time of assessment. Basic inventory, mapping, and administrative functions were generally more mature than environmental and scientific functions, data portability, and integrated tree-safety workflows. GIS-based inventory functions were widely available, whereas export and migration capabilities, ecosystem service support, advanced 3D/LiDAR integration, longitudinal tree-safety records, and reassessment alerts were less consistently implemented. Sensitivity analyses using alternative category weights produced similar aggregate conclusions, while the exploratory evidence-source comparison indicated that scores tended to be higher among platforms assessed with a live demonstration, although evidence-source bias could not be excluded. The findings highlight the importance of defining operational, data governance, environmental, and tree-safety requirements before selecting a platform and undertaking large-scale urban tree inventory programs.