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Re: Recorder and the iPhone /Smart phones.

I love the idea of iphones and the opportunity to record species observations alongside a photo using the GPS facility of these technological delights.

Are their currently any apps out there for such incorporation of technology and biological recording?
Possibilities of creating a mobile Recorder version?

M

Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre
Tullie House Museum

2

Re: Recorder and the iPhone /Smart phones.

Hi Matt,

We are developing an recording app on Android. It's still at the early stage.
The app will take advantage of maps and gps from Android phone to produce accurate grid reference.
It will also make use of the nbn web services.

Luck

IT Officer
rECOrd (A Biodiversity Information System for Cheshire, Halton, Warrington and Wirral)
www.record-lrc.co.uk

3

Re: Recorder and the iPhone /Smart phones.

Luck,

I could have put money on RECORD being on the case.

;)

M

Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre
Tullie House Museum

4

Re: Recorder and the iPhone /Smart phones.

Well done rECOrd!. Just got a new android phone and am dying to see your efforts. If you need any help testing it, please feel free to give me a shout.

Rob Large
Wildlife Sites Officer
Wiltshire & Swindon Biological Records Centre

5

Re: Recorder and the iPhone /Smart phones.

There are a few iPhone apps that let you keep simple record lists plus I found I could use a general purpose database app like Tap Forms to keep lists, but obviously without the niceties of NBN webservice integration. A smartphone client for Indicia is certainly on the wishlist...

John van Breda
Biodiverse IT

6

Re: Recorder and the iPhone /Smart phones.

Thanks Bob, I will let you know when it's ready.

There are already specific recording app I think it called iBat but if you search for "species" on the Android Market there are couple of interesting apps there.

Luck

IT Officer
rECOrd (A Biodiversity Information System for Cheshire, Halton, Warrington and Wirral)
www.record-lrc.co.uk

7

Re: Recorder and the iPhone /Smart phones.

Thanks, I will look into that . I've only had the phone three days so am still at the stage of fiddling and repreatedly breaking things. Rather annoyingly it will only connect to the app store via 3G, not wifi, and as a country dweller, I have yet to find myself anywhere with decent 3g coverage for long enough to have a proper browse, but I will follow up your suggestions.

I have to say though that I'm not that interested in an off the shelf species recording app unless it is pretty well compatible with the stuff we already use (e.g. Recorder), I spend my life fiddling with datasets which aren't quite what you would wish for. So I got the phone, at least in part to look into developing my own.

Better to particpate in someone else's development though I think.

Rob Large
Wildlife Sites Officer
Wiltshire & Swindon Biological Records Centre

8

Re: Recorder and the iPhone /Smart phones.

We've discussed iphone apps a few times here at KMBRC, I think we've even suggested it to an app development company.

Kent Reptile and Amphibian Group have been developing an iphone app to let them collect field data easily but they already use mac database software which I think it is built on top of. It is very customised to the kind of surveying they do.

My ideal phone app would allow me to record by bringing up a screen with the date, lat/long location (and accuracy - my experience with geocaching is that this can vary wildly on the iphone, sometimes it's excellent, sometimes not) and optionally attach a photo.

It would have a taxon dictionary within it that could be browsed or searched (or would guess the name as you typed) and which worked on common and scientific names. If you wanted to market it at casual recorders like me (which I think would make most sense - dedicated recorders would most likely want something specialised) it would be good to have common species only in the dictionary, with an option to type in a species that wasn't in the list, or to mark it as unidentified and a chance to comment (e.g. see photos or specimen #).

You could have a few additional optional fields - count, sex, additional observers, comment etc.

An export into a text file (with a text photo file name)  would be enough to get started, although obviously a wizzy download facility into spreadsheet, Recorder  etc. would be lovely.

I see that AditTrec Recorder exists for PDAs/smart phones running Windows Mobile 5 and 6 (but won't be compatible with Windows Phone 7).

If some decent android recording apps come out then it would help sway me towards getting an android phone. I am in wait and see mode at the moment, using my old fashioned mobile and nicking my OH's iphone when he's not looking. Looking forward to seeing what the recording community can come up with. :D

An indicia-style thing sounds great, imagine LRCs and recording schemes being able to quickly being able to build custom apps for specific recording surveys and target audiences. :cool:

-----------------
Teresa Frost | Wetland Bird Survey National Organiser | BTO
Other hat  | National Forum for Biological Recording Council
(Old hats  | NBN Board, ALERC Board, CBDC, KMBRC)

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Re: Recorder and the iPhone /Smart phones.

We did try a demo of Adit Recorder but gave up in the end. Adit were very helpful but the program didn't come with any help so we guessed, crashed the program, asked for help, got a good response, moved on to the next stage and repeated the senario a number of times. In the end there were other things to get on with.

Graham Hawker
Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre

10

Re: Recorder and the iPhone /Smart phones.

The RODIS app that Luck has been developing is now available on the Android appstore and I have been testing it. There have been a few glitches, but all have been fixed very promptly and the functionality seems to be at about the right level. I am looking forward to the spring so I can get out and give it a proper trial in the field.

Rob Large
Wildlife Sites Officer
Wiltshire & Swindon Biological Records Centre