SINGAPORE - Singapore is the city with the highest density of greenery based on a list of 17 cities, according to an interactive website which measures canopy coverage.

The Republic is the only Asian city on the list which includes Sydney, Vancouver and Sacramento.

The list was launched in December last year by Treepedia which uses Google Street View data to measure the aboveground portion of trees and vegetation in cities around the world - forming what its creators call the Green View Index (GVI).

The GVI is presented on a scale of 0 to 100 and shows the percentage of canopy coverage of a particular location.

Singapore has a GVI of 29.3 per cent, followed by Sydney and Vancouver, which are tied at second place with 25.9 per cent.

Sacremento is in third with a GVI of 23.6 per cent.

Starting out with 10 cities, Treepedia is a collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Senseable City Lab and the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Cities and its Global Shapers Community.

The aim of Treepedia is to better engage citizens in the planning of urban tree coverage.

"As many cities experience warming temperatures, increased storm frequency, and continued air pollution, the well-being of our urban trees has never been more important," said Mr Carlo Ratti, director of the Senseable City Lab, in a statement.

"We present here an index by which to compare cities against one another, encouraging local authorities and communities to take action to protect and promote the green canopy cover."