Trees Get More Interesting As People Are Locked Down

An online tree mapping app in London, England featuring details of more than 700,000 trees – including their location and species – has seen fifty times more visitors since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown measures.

TreeTalk, the mapping tool that identifies over 600 species of trees and creates personalized walks specific to a user’s location, saw 16,000 requests for tree walks in May alone, along with 5,000% more weekly visitors to the site in comparison to the same time last year.

“During the lockdown period we’ve seen a huge growth in people wanting to get out and explore their local streets, leading to an overall positive impact on their health and wellbeing,” says Rob Tustain, director of Revolution Consultancy & Design which created TreeTalk three years ago.

TreeTalk now has plans to bring the app to other cities around the world, including in the U.S., Australia, and India.