	i-Tree Eco Random Plot Generator
The Eco Random Plot Generator can be used to create your plot points with the aid of Google Maps. Because these plots are randomly placed, they may fall on rooftops, in water bodies, and in other areas that may seem undesirable. This is the nature of random sampling. However, you should generate a few extra plots in case some are inaccessible. The following (3) plot options are available using this tool. Simple random (shapefile boundary): Use this option if you already have a GIS shapefile boundary defined for your area of interest. All of your plots will be randomly distributed within that boundary. Simple random sampling will generate plot locations as random sets of latitude and longitude coordinates within your boundary. This is the most basic type of sampling and is appropriate for most projects where the interest lies in summaries for your entire area of interest. Simple random (user drawn boundary): Use this option if you do not have a GIS shapefile defining the boundary of your area of interest. You will draw your boundary using Google Maps. All of your plots will be randomly distributed within that boundary. Simple random sampling will generate plot locations as random sets of latitude and longitude coordinates within your boundary. This is the most basic type of sampling and is appropriate for most projects where the interest lies in summaries for your entire area of interest. Stratified random (shapefile boundary): Use this option if you already have a GIS shape file with strata boundaries defined for your area of interest and you want to select how many plots to randomly distribute within each stratum. Your shapefile must have a field in the attribute table indicating the categories you want to stratify by. Stratified random sampling is a more advanced type of sampling than simple random sampling. It allows you to define naturally occurring categories or strata within your area of interest. Strata can be based on any categories you are interested in. Common examples include: land use categories, ownership categories, or neighborhoods. The advantages of stratified random sampling are that you can summarize results by your categories and concentrate sampling in the strata you are most interested in. You can also increase the precision of your population estimates (i.e. decrease standard error) by defining strata so that you would expect plots within a stratum to be relatively similar while you would expect plots from different strata to be relatively different.
Shapefile requirements -- If you chose an option that requires an input shapefile, the shapefile can be of any coordinate systems as long as it is uploaded with .prj file. But if .prj is not uploaded, the shapefile must use a geographic coordinate system in latitude and longitude (projected coordinate systems will not work). Shapefiles actually consist of multiple files and you must provide three files with these file extensions: .shp, .dbf, and *.shx. Each file needs to be uploaded from your computer. Shapefiles can often be downloaded from state or county governments, ESRI, or the US Census Bureau but will usually require some GIS processing to export the desired boundary area as polygons in an appropriate geographic coordinate system.

i-Tree Eco

Random Plot Generator

The Eco Random Plot Generator can be used to create your plot points with the aid of Google Maps. Because these plots are randomly placed, they may fall on rooftops, in water bodies, and in other areas that may seem undesirable. This is the nature of random sampling. However, you should generate a few extra plots in case some are inaccessible. The following (3) plot options are available using this tool.

Simple random (shapefile boundary): Use this option if you already have a GIS shapefile boundary defined for your area of interest. All of your plots will be randomly distributed within that boundary. Simple random sampling will generate plot locations as random sets of latitude and longitude coordinates within your boundary. This is the most basic type of sampling and is appropriate for most projects where the interest lies in summaries for your entire area of interest.
Simple random (user drawn boundary): Use this option if you do not have a GIS shapefile defining the boundary of your area of interest. You will draw your boundary using Google Maps. All of your plots will be randomly distributed within that boundary. Simple random sampling will generate plot locations as random sets of latitude and longitude coordinates within your boundary. This is the most basic type of sampling and is appropriate for most projects where the interest lies in summaries for your entire area of interest.
Stratified random (shapefile boundary): Use this option if you already have a GIS shape file with strata boundaries defined for your area of interest and you want to select how many plots to randomly distribute within each stratum. Your shapefile must have a field in the attribute table indicating the categories you want to stratify by. Stratified random sampling is a more advanced type of sampling than simple random sampling. It allows you to define naturally occurring categories or strata within your area of interest. Strata can be based on any categories you are interested in. Common examples include: land use categories, ownership categories, or neighborhoods. The advantages of stratified random sampling are that you can summarize results by your categories and concentrate sampling in the strata you are most interested in. You can also increase the precision of your population estimates (i.e. decrease standard error) by defining strata so that you would expect plots within a stratum to be relatively similar while you would expect plots from different strata to be relatively different.

Shapefile requirements -- If you chose an option that requires an input shapefile, the shapefile can be of any coordinate systems as long as it is uploaded with .prj file. But if .prj is not uploaded, the shapefile must use a geographic coordinate system in latitude and longitude (projected coordinate systems will not work). Shapefiles actually consist of multiple files and you must provide three files with these file extensions: *.shp, *.dbf, and *.shx. Each file needs to be uploaded from your computer. Shapefiles can often be downloaded from state or county governments, ESRI, or the US Census Bureau but will usually require some GIS processing to export the desired boundary area as polygons in an appropriate geographic coordinate system.

Load your shapefiles below:

	myboundary.shp file:
	myboundary.dbf file:
	myboundary.shx file:
	myboundary.prj file:		Optional. If not specified, the shapefile will be processed as in geographic coordinate system with longitude and latitude