SINGAPORE - If you have ever wondered what tree with its pretty flowers stands at the foot of your block, when your neighbourhood trees are due for pruning, or where Singapore's 262 heritage trees are, all you now need to do is look it up on your phone.

On Saturday (March 17), the National Parks Board (NParks) launched trees.sg, an online map that shows the locations of more than 500,000 trees in Singapore's urban landscape.

Users can click on individual trees and look at pictures of them, as well as their biodata.

The map took 10 months to create, at a cost of $100,000, and NParks bills this as the most extensive tree map in Asia.

NParks' streetscape group director Oh Cheow Sheng said: "We want people to get to learn about the trees in their neighbourhood, and hopefully, this will progressively get them to be excited about what else they can do about the environment, and how they can contribute.

"That is the idea behind putting these trees on an interactive tree map."

The map was launched to commemorate the International Day of Forests, which falls on March 21.

In conjunction with the launch of trees.sg, the heritage restoration process of Fort Canning Park kicked off on Saturday with the planting of 18 trees in the soon-to-be Farquhar Garden.

When completed in June 2019, it will take over the current Stamford Green, and will include plants originally grown by Major-General William Farquhar, the first British Resident and Commandant of Singapore from 1819 to 1823.

The 18 trees were planted by members of the community and Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for National Development Desmond Lee.

Also launched on Saturday were a community-led group called Friends of TreesSg, with the aim of spreading the love of trees among Singaporeans, and NParks' free guided walk of Chinatown's heritage trees, which the public can sign up for on Sunday.