Tree Survey (OTISS)

That sinking feeling hit me again as I stared at another quote for specialized arborist equipment - £5,000 for what? A glorified GPS logger? Three years ago, deep in the Scottish Highlands during a storm assessment, OTISS Tree Survey became my lifeline when traditional methods failed. This unassuming app transformed my £300 Android tablet into a professional tree risk assessment system, cutting equipment costs by 90% while actually improving data accuracy. Designed specifically for arboricultural consultants, it handles the entire workflow from field inspection to client-ready reports through seamless integration with OTISS cloud platform.

Web-Based Survey Design eliminates pre-field headaches. Planning surveys from my office computer feels like sketching on digital parchment - drawing inspection zones while sipping coffee as rain lashes the windows. The relief when complex site boundaries render perfectly on mobile still surprises me after 200+ surveys.

Offline Field Mapping shines where it matters most. Last Tuesday in Wales' dense oak woodland, I placed 37 trees on the map during cellular dead zones. The tactile satisfaction of dropping pins where ancient roots meet pathways, with GPS accuracy tightening around each trunk like measuring tape - it captures spatial relationships no paper form ever could.

Intuitive Data Capture turns complex assessments into tap workflows. When documenting fungal growth on that storm-damaged beech, the dropdown for Ganoderma australe appeared before I finished typing "Gan". That microsecond saved matters when hail starts pelting your clipboard.

Bi-Directional Syncing feels like magic returning from the field. After muddy treks through New Forest bogs, watching the progress bar fill in a warm Land Rover while data uploads automatically? Pure professional bliss. Never lost a single record across three device replacements.

Automated Reporting Engine is where the real magic happens. Generating 50-page assessment documents before reaching the client's driveway? Seeing crown dieback percentages transform into colored risk matrices still gives me chills. It turns weeks of analysis into afternoon work.

Picture Edinburgh at dawn: frost crunching under boots while breath mists in the air. Thick gloves make traditional tablets unusable, but OTISS's oversized touch targets accept my clumsy jabs. As the sun crests Calton Hill, I'm already syncing twelve completed assessments, thermal coffee mug warming frozen fingers. That golden-hour productivity became routine since discovering how survey templates auto-populate council compliance fields.

The brilliance? Launching faster than snapping a clinometer shut. Never crashed during seven-hour continuous surveys. But I'd trade all the features for better stormproofing - that downpour near Loch Lomond revealed touchscreen limitations when rain mimics finger taps. Subscription costs sting after the generous trial, yet pay for themselves in two commercial surveys. For consultants drowning in equipment loans and manual reporting? This is your lifeline. Worth every penny for anyone managing woodland estates or municipal tree inventories.