There's an app. for that

[demographic]

I was thinking about this the other day Richard, I thought a plant/tree/fungi/tracking ID tool might be useful. Even if it's just reference material it could be good.

Now that would be one reason to get an Iphone for me, not blown away by them otherwise as they are big numb things with none too spectacular cameras.

 

[Shewie]

Now that would be one reason to get an Iphone for me, not blown away by them otherwise as they are big numb things with none too spectacular cameras.

I caught five minutes of the Gadget Show the other night and they were scanning barcodes on Plasma and LCD TVs in high street stores and then comparing their prices to online retailers within seconds.
Imagine if we could use the same technology to take a shot of a leaf/fungi/footprint and then instantly be able to cross check it against a database, give it a couple more years and I bet we won't be far off.

 

[Neumo]

I caught five minutes of the Gadget Show the other night and they were scanning barcodes on Plasma and LCD TVs in high street stores and then comparing their prices to online retailers within seconds.
Imagine if we could use the same technology to take a shot of a leaf/fungi/footprint and then instantly be able to cross check it against a database, give it a couple more years and I bet we won't be far off.

Now that would be a toy worth having. If I could have one of those and MemoryMap for iPhone I would be very happy.

I know there is a divide on the 'use your phone in the woods' but we are all different and it is usefull to check up on mail, evilbay auctions etc.. if you want to. Most of the time I dont & like to forget it's there but it's fun to do sometimes when you are swinging in your hammock in a forest glade. Works for me anayway. I agree that the compass is not very reliable, which is why I have a new Marbles mini compass on a lanyard for quick direction checks & will be getting a proper sight compass soon.

 

[demographic]

I caught five minutes of the Gadget Show the other night and they were scanning barcodes on Plasma and LCD TVs in high street stores and then comparing their prices to online retailers within seconds.
Imagine if we could use the same technology to take a shot of a leaf/fungi/footprint and then instantly be able to cross check it against a database, give it a couple more years and I bet we won't be far off.

That would be cool, just like a personal plant database teacher.
Would save me from keeping masses of photos of mushrooms that I always mean to identify later but somehow seem to forget to do

I'll bung the pictures up on here some day cos there's masses I haven't identified yet cos I take my phone camera with me all the time and take pics of mushrooms when I'm walking the dog.

If they could make one that wasn't the same size as a small book and have a decent camera on it I might go for one.

 

[WhichDoctor]

I only have second hand experience of iphones, my friend has one, but I would totally agree with the warnings about the compass. On a recent trip to Edinburgh his iphone led us on some merry trips to undesired, and undesirable, locations thanks to the dodgy compass. We eventually agreed that it was trying to get itself stolen

As for useful apps, I recently heard from someone about a project to make a website where people can log locations of plant and tree species on an online map as a kind of wiki. Eventually it could build up into a really useful resource. I haven't actually looked into it yet but that would be a extremely useful tool to have when out and about.

Edit:

I've just had a quick look on the web and found this http://locations.sprouting.org/

I'm not sure if it's the one I was tolled about. I got the impression that that one was still in the planning stage, a university project i think. But this looks like the same idea if it isn't the same one. Could be one to watch.

 

[Trunks]

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.

Hi Neumo,

i have a gen2 iPhone and have an app called Air Sharing, i can wirelessly connect to my home network and share files, also lets me open pdfs and word docs.

i took the Hammock & tarp, 170 page pdf into the woods to help me set my gear up. Certainly lighter than 170 sheets of A4 ;o)

James

 

[jack by the hedge]

Moving files from PC to iphone: the app I use is called Folders which also allows you to password protect files and hide them from normal view.

I too have the Tarp PDF on the phone. It's great when you are out with folk who have never camped that way and want to crack on themselves.

My phone is just an extra with info on it for the times that the little grey cells are misfiring.

Cheers for all the links, i'll look into them today.

jbth

 

[andywinkk]

Im on my second iphone the 3gs and wouldnt have any other phone now, they are really handy to much to list

 

[Neumo]

Thanks for the file sharing suggestions. I will have a look at those this week

 

[Rebirth]

Ow do folks.
Thought i'd throw in some apps that i have used in the past on my ipod touch, some are free or have free 'lite' versions.

Chirp! Bird songs of Britain and Europe (Spiny Software)
Chirp! USA (Spiny Software)
Herbs & Spices (Buzzlifeapps)
Be Prepared (Creative Coefficient Corp)
Peterson Guide to Birds of Prey (wildtones)
Knot Guide (Winkpass Creations)
Pro-Knot (John Sherry)
IdentifyTree (Christoph Duyster)
TreeID - The British Tree Identification Guide (Isoperia)
Tree ID - TreeID with Fall Foliage (Medl Mobile)
Butterflies of Britain and Europe (BirdGuides Ltd)
PEPID Elements - Environmental Medicine & Disasters (PEPID, LLC)
National Geographic's Handheld Birds (National Geographic Society)
Lethal:Threat Assessment (Elany Arts Inc)
iPlant (Lundgren Consulting LLC)
iSurvive - Military Grade Survival Manual (DMBC)
iSurvive Wilderness (NNOBW)
Survival Test (Mediapro Interactiv)
Microbiology Pronunciations (Hipposoft)
Fungi Database (Darren Gates)
Fungi (Simon de Bernard)
Starmap (Fredd)
Star Walk - 5 stars astronomy guide (Vito Technology Inc)
PhenoMap (Natural Guides, LLC)
WikiHow: How to and DIY Survival Kit

Its worth having a look for survival\outdoors pod casts as well. But as javi mentioned, jailbroken is the way to go to get the full potential of your apple uber toy.

 

[Wayne]

Ow do folks.
Thought i'd throw in some apps that i have used in the past on my ipod touch, some are free or have free 'lite' versions.

Thanks for the list I am off to check them out.

 

[Globetrotter.uk]

I have an itouch and on it I have british birds - this is good id and bird sounds.
us army first aid manual. creepy camp tales. wilderness. baum...mung - tree id. knot guide. id wood.

 

[kawasemi]

Some may laugh to themselves (some will outloud and in this thread I'm sure) but I am very happy that I don't have a clue what half these posts are talking about. I still have a Nokia 3210 that is such a lump of metal I have yet to find a place in the UK 'wilds' that I don't get a signal. It stays turned off and I know that when it is needed in an emergency I am probably going to be able to use it. The rest of what I need is in my head and hands (map, compass etc). It is the 'oldy-worldy' skills that attracted me to bushcraft...all credit to those who like their gizmos, we are all free to enjoy the outdoors in our own way...but please don't let your phone ring next to me in the woods...up a mountain...on the seashore...etc...etc.

 

[scottisha5]

Not too sure if this is has been mentioned on here yet but Ive been using the Geocaching app and its a lot of fun, you wouldn't believe the places these little things are secreted.


Pip pip

John

 

[firecrest]

I just bought an iphone it was working great but since i trandferred my old number over yesterday its lost internet. any ideas? I might have to phone them but possibly people arent even in the call centres today!

 

[jack by the hedge]

Cheers Rebirth,

That's a list that looks interesting. I haven't seen most of these so will spend a snowy hour at work downloading these while i wait to be sent home, just like when I was a kid.

As an update, i've been looking over Yule at database design for the iPhone, which may be good as a searchable app.

Very early days there.

JBTH

 

[firecrest]

Some may laugh to themselves (some will outloud and in this thread I'm sure) but I am very happy that I don't have a clue what half these posts are talking about. I still have a Nokia 3210 that is such a lump of metal I have yet to find a place in the UK 'wilds' that I don't get a signal. It stays turned off and I know that when it is needed in an emergency I am probably going to be able to use it. The rest of what I need is in my head and hands (map, compass etc). It is the 'oldy-worldy' skills that attracted me to bushcraft...all credit to those who like their gizmos, we are all free to enjoy the outdoors in our own way...but please don't let your phone ring next to me in the woods...up a mountain...on the seashore...etc...etc.

You can only say that cos you arent hooked on doodlejump think yourself lucky large sections of your day arent taken up bouncing a green alien up endless ledges
you dont even know what im on about!

 

[lamper]

2 questions:-

What iphone apps have you found of use in the bush?

What iphone apps might be useful to be developed for the bush?

This might be both serious and lighthearted in approach.

It's odd that I found this today as last night I was dicussing this exact subject.

A friend and I were considering putting a iBushcraft or iCamp style app which would basically be a reference book of things like trees, tracks, fire set ups, tarp setups, campsite location/review (maybe with gps finder) etc etc.

We were also thinking of going the extra level and having a wild camping bit where you could log your favorite spots and share if you like.

 

[jack by the hedge]

I mused on the GPS plotting of sites but decided that this wouldn't be a good idea for two reasons.

1- Sites become over used quickly if they become established. Added to that the fact that there are just some people that don't look after a site, i'd would put on where i go.

2- Some people, i know that this hard to believe, don't camp where there are meant to. You could have a situation get out of hand quickly.

Everything else sounds good. you should be able to take the bones of something and port it out to Iphone (app), desktop widget or java based application / web site.

feel free to PM me on this as i need a kick up the backside to make this happen.

JBTH

 

[Adze]

"Want to poison yourself with poorly identified wild fauna and fungi? ...there's an app for that!"

"Want to know where you can light a fire and easily pass it off as someone elses doing? ...there's an app for that!"

"Want to know how fast you need to read that survival manual to be able to finish before your battery runs flat? ...there's an app for that too!"

I saw this a while ago...

I know which I'd rather have