Russia Connects Citizens to Online Plant Diagnostics
A new AI-powered app lets anyone photograph a sick tree and alert experts in real time.
A team of Russian developers has created a digital platform that allows citizens to help diagnose the health of urban trees and shrubs online. The project — winner of Moscow’s “Leaders of Digital Transformation” hackathon — uses artificial intelligence to identify plant damage from photos uploaded by users, integrating the data into an interactive map of city greenery.
The system, developed by the Axiom team, includes both a website and a mobile app. It’s designed to help dendrologists — tree health specialists — quickly spot and respond to potential hazards such as weakened or diseased trees that might pose a safety risk.
Diagnosing Damage and Disease Severity
The neural network behind the platform was trained on thousands of photos of healthy and unhealthy plants. It can distinguish between normal and diseased trees and even highlight the affected areas — whether on the trunk, branches, or leaves — while estimating the severity of the problem.
The project emerged from one of Russia’s largest annual developer competitions for public-sector innovation. This year’s hackathon drew participants from all 89 Russian regions and 26 countries, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, and India — underscoring how digital collaboration is reshaping the way cities around the world protect their green infrastructure.
