OrchardHQThe map is a working surface, not a picture.
In the field, you add each tree where you stand. Back at the desk, you draw the rows and the field boundary around them and lay the orchard out on satellite.
This guide covers the simplest mapping — walk, tap, filter and lay out with a phone GPS and satellite imagery. For centimetre-accurate positions (drone tiles, RTK, row-snap), see the Precision mapping guide.
1. Add your trees in the field
Open the app and walk the orchard. When you're standing at a tree, add it. It drops on the map at your GPS position. Give it a variety and a tag if you know them, or leave it blank and fill the detail in later. Walk the rows and the map fills with your trees, each one where it actually stands. No typing coordinates, no measuring.
Faster still, hold the voice button and just say it. "Bramley on an M26 rootstock, planted in 2021, pruned last year." OrchardHQ drops the tree at your spot and fills in the variety, the rootstock, the planted year and a pruning record from that one sentence. Fix anything it misheard with a tap.
Already have bare trees on the map from a drone flight or a KML import? Walk up to any of them and do the same. A voice note fills in that tree's variety, rootstock and planted year, and can log an observation or a task at the same time. You're never stuck with blank trees.
place /guide/images/map-mobile-add-tree.jpg · 360×740 · phone map screen: GPS dot in the centre, a just-added tree marker at that spot, the quick "add tree" sheet with variety + tag fields
2. Back at the desk: draw the rows and field
The web app puts the satellite map on the right and the tree list on the left. Every tree is a coloured dot keyed to its fruit type: apple red, pear green, cobnut orange, walnut brown, plum purple. Now lay the orchard out. Draw the field boundary, add the rows, and group the trees into them. Tap a tree in the list and the map flies to it. Tap a marker and the list scrolls in step. To generate a fresh grid of rows from scratch, see the Plan guide.
place /guide/images/map-desk-split-view.jpg · 1200×680 · split-view web app: accordion tree list on left, satellite map right with fruit-type-coloured markers, one tree selected and panel open
The Options panel
Open Options in the top-right of the map. From there:
- Search by address — jump the map to a place or Eircode.
- Base layer — Satellite, Drone (your own tiles), or Plain.
- Spread circles — current or expected canopy.
- Pollination — per-tree score rings.
- Yield and Disease heatmaps.
Measure a distance or area, or multi-select trees to bulk-edit them — move, retype, create tasks, or mark a block as planted.
place /guide/images/map-desk-overlays.jpg · 1200×680 · the Options panel expanded with address search + base-layer (Satellite / Drone / Plain) + Spread / Pollination / Yield / Disease toggles, the corresponding overlay visible on the map
Move, retype, fly-to-unit
Click an Add-tree control then click the image to drop a pin; open an existing tree and hit Move to slide it. Multi-select supports bulk move, bulk retype and bulk task-create. Management units (rows, blocks, parcels) get a fly-to from the unit list.
On the roadmap
Field capture — GPS, photos, voice — keeps working when you're out of signal and syncs once you're back. The map background still needs signal to draw; offline tiles are an area we're working on. Next up:
- iOS support — the mobile app is Android-first today (including the "what tree am I looking at?" compass); iPhone is on the way.
If you need something we don't yet support, please tell us.
From the orchard
A guide explains; a walkthrough shows. Posts from Frank's own orchard in Gort:
Rescuing two local orchards
Two neglected orchards within ten miles of here. What we found when we walked them, and what comes off first.
More walkthroughs coming as the orchard goes in this winter.
Don't see what you need? hello@orchardhq.app — we'd like to hear about it.
See the map running on a real orchard.
Try the demo → Request access →