A living plant collection is a curated assemblage of documented, cultivated plant specimens maintained within a defined geographic boundary, such as a botanical garden, arboretum, or conservation facility. As a GIS use case, it involves the systematic capture, management, and spatial analysis of geospatial data associated with individual plants or plant groupings, including precise location coordinates, taxonomic classifications, provenance records, and phenological attributes.

GIS technology enables practitioners to integrate living collection data with high-resolution imagery, topographic layers, soil surveys, and environmental datasets, creating a dynamic, spatially referenced inventory. Tools such as geodatabases, feature classes, and web mapping applications support real-time data collection via mobile GIS platforms, allowing field staff to record specimen locations with GPS accuracy and synchronize updates to centralized spatial databases.

The practical benefits are substantial: spatial analysis capabilities facilitate collection planning, biodiversity assessments, accessibility routing, irrigation management, and conservation prioritization. Organizations gain actionable intelligence through thematic mapping, proximity analysis, and dashboards that communicate collection status to diverse stakeholders. Ultimately, applying geospatial workflows to living plant collections enhances institutional stewardship, supports scientific research, and strengthens long-term conservation outcomes.