I'm sorry I haven't updated this page for so long. Spring is finally here, the trees in Tompkins Square Park are about 2 weeks behind where they were last year. And I've been extremely busy photographing emerging buds, flowers and leaves. Just keeping those photos organized is an amazingly time sucking task. Aside from that, I've drastically modified the organization and look of the map, making it much less cluttered while presenting added information clearly. Tasks left to do are to nail down the identifications and create more leafy icons. I'm the photographer, illustrator and map designer on this self initiated project to name what was growing in our main access to nature in our East Village Neighborhood. Any help that those of you who have real gardening and tree knowledge will be much appreciated. I update my main site, The GammaBlog much more frequently. http://gammablog.com/tag/tsptip/ http://gammablog.com/tag/tompkins-square-park/

This is the current format. The tree sizes and locations are now indicated by trunk size icons. The trunk sizes are my eyeball estimates. Trunk size is helpful in keeping track of which tree is which. The inch size icon is helpful to indicate the full grown size of the various icons. This is also eyeball estimation and I hope for more scientific accuracy as the map progresses. Shrubs and bushes are indicated by an icon, identification of these is in an early stage. The light poles are included because they make handy landmarks to keep you orientated.

The image above of the Dog run is in the format designed for printing standard letter size. I'll be making available printable maps under a Creative Commons license - Attribution - Non-Commercial. So you will be welcome to download and print your own map, and teachers will be able to use it freely in classes, etc. They will be released incrementally when ready. Let me know if you wish to help with the identifications, I'll make sure you get the most up to date version.

I will schedule tree walks later this Spring.

Contact: Michael Natale gammanyc at gmail.com.