Tutorial for the www.vegetationmap4africa.org that shows how to select 'useful tree species' in Google Earth for any place within 8 countries in Africa (Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia).

1. vegetationmap4africa
Select tree species
in Google Earth
By: Roeland Kindt, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), 2015

2. Open the map from the species selection tool page. Select the target country (Uganda in this example) and
choose to open the file with Google Earth (you need to have Google Earth installed already)
Select tree species in Google Earth
1
2
3

3. Select tree species in Google Earth
The kml file opened in Google Earth (or Google Earth Pro) lists all potential natural vegetation of the target
country, whereby the vegetation folders are first sorted by structure (Documentation Volumes 2 to 5).

4. Select tree species in Google Earth
Zoom in to your area of interest (1) (navigation tutorial).
Note that only labels of forest vegetation types are shown by default (2).
1
2

5. Select tree species in Google Earth
Display labels for all the vegetation types by checking the country folder (1) (you may need to repeat clicking).
Labels of the same vegetation structure are filled with the same colour. Label background = map colour.
1

6. Select tree species in Google Earth
Identify the potential natural vegetation type of your area of interest.
Option A is to click on the label (1). The hyperlink (2) takes you to the vegetation factsheet.
1
2

7. Select tree species in Google Earth
Identify the potential natural vegetation type of your area of interest.
Option B is to click on the text label (1). The hyperlink (2) takes you to the vegetation factsheet.
1
2

8. Select tree species in Google Earth
Identify the potential natural vegetation type of your area of interest.
Option C is to click on the hyperlink of the folder of the vegetation type (1)
1

9. Select tree species in Google Earth
Consult the factsheet for the potential natural vegetation type at your area of interest.
Open the factsheet directly in a web browser (1), then go back to Google Earth (2) (optional).
12

10. Select tree species in Google Earth
Consult the factsheet for the potential natural vegetation type at your area of interest

11. Select tree species in Google Earth
The vegetation fact sheet contains information on dominant, characteristic and other species present

12. Select tree species in Google Earth
Clicking on any of the species names takes you to the Agroforestry Species Switchboard.
Click on the hyperlinks to obtain information on the selected species in linked database (1).
1

13. Select tree species in Google Earth
One of the databases linked to the Agroforestry Species Switchboard is the PROTA4U

14. Select tree species in Google Earth
Select subsets of species that provide specific products or environmental services

15. Select tree species in Google Earth
An interactive Excel document (that also can be opened in OpenOffice) allows for multi criteria selection

16. Select tree species in Google Earth
An interactive Excel document (that also can be opened in OpenOffice) allows for multi criteria selection

17. Select tree species in Google Earth
Enable editing to select subsets of suitable species (1)
1

18. Select tree species in Google Earth
Select a subset of species that provide timber, furniture or construction wood (1).
Select cells with ‘x’ or ‘p’ (‘p’ indicates that not all references documented the product or service) (2).
1
2

19. Select tree species in Google Earth
Application of the timber filter (1) selects a subset of 81 tree species (2)
1
2

20. Select tree species in Google Earth
Select a subset of species that provide edible fruits, nuts or seeds(1).
Select cells with ‘x’ or ‘p’ (‘p’ indicates that not all references documented the product or service) (2).
1
2

21. Select tree species in Google Earth
Sort the subset of species according to the PROTA star rating for Timber Use (optional)

22. Select tree species in Google Earth
Select a final subset of species with PROTA star rating 3 for Timber Use and star rating 2 for Fruit Use
(optional)