There's an app. for that

[Melonfish]

Ooh geotagging! just thought, geotag photo's of fruit tree's bushes you have found, or sites where there are excellent fishing/hunting etc then share.
lost in an unknown part of town? no bother there's food nearby!

 

[bilko]

Gps-MotionX is excellent for waypoints.
iplant is really good for reference with over 300 plants
I also bought butterflies with ( supposedly) all of the butterflies in the uk. Although its not so good and very expensive.

Most useful to me would be tree id and food for free apps. It would be a huge app though and must have full screen photos to be much god. It must have silhouette, bark and leaf id too.
Apart from that i can only think of knots and perhaps tarp tutorials.
I do have a free app called flashlight which works but its a gimmick really.
The new iphone is good for pics and video so i hear.

I really just use to share between the kids on long journeys in the car for playing games when they are bored.

 

[Bushwhacker]

Just thought of something.

Bird and animal calls for spotting or hunting purposes to get them in close. I very much doubt that one exists.

 

[Neumo]

Thankf for the list Jack by the Hedge, I will look at these. I have an iPhone and have had a look for Bushcraft usefull apps but can't find anything useful. I tried a couple of free compass ones but they did not work reliably as a quick direction checker so have just picked up a proper old fashioned Marbles brass button compass.

I was using my old Windows mobile mobile, a O2 XDA Orbit 2, while out in the woods to run MemoryMap which is a very useful tool as it can track where you start from & where you are now on an OS map, which has got me back to the car in thick brush more than once. It shows you the direction you are travelling in, when zoomed in, so works as a reliable compass. The screen went on it a few weeks back so I can no longer use it but will get another one when I find a cheap one on the bay.

I did have a look for a tree identification apps but the ones I looked at on the App store were rubbish (too few trees, only showed US trees etc..). An App that had all the UK mushrooms or trees on it with a clever search page (multiple choice type thing) would be very useful. I do IT but dont write code so we need to find us someone on here that can develop iPhone Apps...

 

[Neumo]

I like the idea of game calls or birdsong (to get the wood quiet quicker, like the ones US hunters use). I know some boys who use distressed rabbit calls etc.. on normal mobiles, which are just sound files played through the speaker. Woild be fun to use to call in foxes when you were out & about.

 

[Bob_about]

he he, i don't even get a signal where i live
...
Also a map app that will allow you to record info - found a good blackberry patch here, lots of hazelnuts in this hidden garden, canoe access here...etc
.

I dont have an I-Phone, but do have a Smart Phone which I have installed mobile memory map onto from my desktop copy (The Licence covers one PC and one mobile device). This then lets me take whole areas of 1:100,000 OS maps out and about linked to the integrated GPS.

This doesn`t need a mobile network signal as it connects to the satelites direct and the maps are on the device. It automatically records your position, elevation, distance travelled and speed - in addition you can place marks with text anywhere on the map. All info is stored on an overlay which you can then synch back to the desktop when you return.

Bit gadgety I know, but works surprisingly well - Memory Map for all the National Parks is also very cheap at around £30. If you have a suitable phone I`d definitely recommend adding this, if only for those occasions on the hilside when the fog comes down and you are not totally sure where you are!

PS - putting the phone into "airplane mode" disconnects it from the mobile network so it doesnot wear down the battery looking for signal, nor does it recieve irritating text messages - just me and the GPS satelites!!)

PPS -

- found a good blackberry patch here, .

- I am assuming you meant the fruit and not the very irritating mobile device which has become the obsession of junior office executives way too eager to answer their bosses emails!!

 

[rich59]

OK. So an app that turned it into a satellite phone for emergency use would be a great thing:-

http://db.tidbits.com/article/9530 (but beware it was published on april 1st!) If this were any way true then the aerial issue might be a challenge. But who knows - could a tree or something work as an aerial? There is a related discussion at http://www.cellfanatic.com/2008/04/04/msv-satellite-iphone-saves-oceanic-815-survivors .

I like the idea of being able to mark locations of interesting things, with photos.

UK tree and plant ID would be great, even linking to database on uses.

A compass and map function with GPS sound great.

A wind up power supply option would be good.

Star map idea sounds cool.

I think there is a Google earth app, so you can view the area.

In passing - if you go higher are you more likely to get phone connection? If so then a little cannister of helium and a baloon and a roll of wire might be part of an emergency kit?

 

[Neumo]

Thats quire an old article there as it's seems to be written before the iPhone 3G came out & I have had mine for over a year now. Some apps do take a long time to come out on the iPhone though, such as TomTom, so it may be true. Sat Phones are expensive though ($30 to $50 a minute sometimes), so it wont be affordable by most unless the price comes down a lot.

Taking a picture with a GPS coordinate = GeoTagging, which is on the iPhone & other GPS mobiles

Tree, plant & mushroom Id would be fab but I have not seen a good one yet. You could build one using a database if you had all the content (pics & text) but copyright would need to be dealt with... Am still looking for an app that does all that

Compass & map: works great on windows mobiles using memory map but is not on the iPhone. There are OS maps for the iphone but the I wou;ld have to buy the same OS maps again = Not for me

Google Earth is widely available on lots of phone platforms (Windows mobile, iPhone & normal mobiles) BUT you need a datalink to get it to work AFAIK. Memory Map will do sat pictures if you have loaded the data onto it & works just like another map.

Star Map: That should be doable. My brother has one of the new Google Android phones which has a star map which uses the camera. Take a photo of the night sky & it works out what you are looking at (i.e the star system or constalation name), & also uses the GPS to do some of the maths

But a mobile with a wind up handle? Could be a market there if nobody has done it yet.

 

[javi]

I took my iPhone to a week-long course in July and was surprised to find that a single charge lasted over a week provided all phone radios were switched off (i.e. airplane mode). I also use a Power Monkey which stores 2 full phone charges (I think) for up to 12 months. So by using both you should have ample power for a trip using reference applications that don't require a data connection, and you'd always be able to switch on GPS/ 3G/ phone radios if you needed them.

Now I just need to find some decent reference apps! Star Map is good though, and the knot one is also pretty handy

 

[Peter_t]

i hate iphones with a passion,

if u want a compass get a compass
if you want pictures get a proper camera
if you want to talk to people THEN you can get a phone

imagine if you lost or broke it and didn’t have any real kit? you would be buggered
over priced rubbish imo but each to their own


pete

 

[javi]

Easy tiger. Only the 3GS (which I don't own) has a compass and unless your phone is over 5 years old I'd expect it to have a 'not proper' camera. iPhones are tools, nothing else, and quite useful to some people. I don't think anyone is suggesting replacing 'real kit' with one - it's just handy to be able to store a large number of books and reference videos on one.

Saves carrying your library, TV and DVD player around with you, eh?

 

[Grooveski]

Noticed that xcweather has an iphone dooda. Thought it might be of interest to you folks.

 

[DavidJT]

Easy tiger. Only the 3GS (which I don't own) has a compass and unless your phone is over 5 years old I'd expect it to have a 'not proper' camera. iPhones are tools, nothing else, and quite useful to some people. I don't think anyone is suggesting replacing 'real kit' with one - it's just handy to be able to store a large number of books and reference videos on one.

Saves carrying your library, TV and DVD player around with you, eh?

"compass" in gps terms is very different from a traditional compass in that the former only indicates direction of travel and does not work when stationary or even walking slowly. As far as I understand anyway.
MotiomX gpslite includes a compass and is free, works on my gen 2 iPhone fine. But I stll carry and use my prismatic Silva

 

[Neumo]

I am after an App to share files between my PC & iPhone3G, to transfer PDFs and other data then be able to read those files on my iPhone. Can anyone recommend a good one as I have been looking at a few but they are all a bit quirky according to some of the reviews.

 

[javi]

Hi Neumo. Really depends on whether you have a jailbroken device - if you do, iPhone Browser does what it says on the tin and is very straightforward and reliable. If you don't, Apple have intentionally made it quite difficult to do this as they don't want owners to be able to play around with their device and use it as they see fit. This is the main reason why I have jailbroken my device and am now free to place whatever content on it I wish.

 

[Neumo]

Thanks. Talking about this is probably besy done as a PM, so I have snt you one if thats OK

 

[javi]

"compass" in gps terms is very different from a traditional compass in that the former only indicates direction of travel and does not work when stationary or even walking slowly. As far as I understand anyway.
MotiomX gpslite includes a compass and is free, works on my gen 2 iPhone fine. But I stll carry and use my prismatic Silva

Couldn't agree more, and there's no way on earth I would rely on a compass app on an iPhone - I've seen first hand quite how bad they can be. This seems to me to be an echo of the electronic GPS vs compass/ map argument - no denying GPS gizmos are handy, but they should never be your only way of navigating.

 

[javi]

Thanks. Talking about this is probably besy done as a PM, so I have snt you one if thats OK

Feel free! I don't think jailbreaking is that naughty, but I'm more than happy to keep such discussions out of a public forum...

 

[FGYT]

defianly Memoery map on GPS enabled PDAs etc you can mark your own stuff on it and link to a file ie a Jpeg or better a word Doc with info and pics in etc also you can use Map Tech nautical charts etc i use these to mark Dives and info on them for ref later

plenty of E books you can load on ( see downloads on this very site when its back up ) but still looking for a good interactive recognition program to actually use the technology as apposed to just holding a digital copy of a paper book

ATB

Duncan

 

[John Fenna]

i hate iphones with a passion,

if u want a compass get a compass
if you want pictures get a proper camera
if you want to talk to people THEN you can get a phone

imagine if you lost or broke it and didn’t have any real kit? you would be buggered
over priced rubbish imo but each to their own


pete

I know where you are coming from here - I go outdoors to get away from techno -gizmos and to get back in contact with nature.
OK - I am a technophobe and I admit it but I also realise that some folks cannot do without the "convenience" of these toys. I like paper books even if they are heavy and prone to water damage
I find a compass, map, camera and notebook are all I need/want "out there" - the phone is switched off and left for emergencies!
The last sound I want to here while chilling out, is a phone ringing!