Gentlemen,
I would appreciate comments and opinions on an iPhone app that identifies trees based upon a photo of a leaf from the tree.
I have been bad all of these years about identifying trees in my topographic surveys but with the advent of new technology, I want to turn over a new leaf, so to speak.B-)
I only have pine, palm and eucalyptus trees in my personal database and I only differentiate palm trees with a different symbol.
Thanks for your help.
JA, PLS SoCal
They are either a Oak or a Pine in the Neck of the woods.
Not an app but I use this webpage from my phone
http://www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/mobile/
I use leafsnap. It works great as long as you have a white background (such as a sheet of paper) to place the leaf on before snapping a pic.
If you do not know your dendrology, what do you do in the wintertime? Seems like that's a critical piece of knowledge that has no substitute.
agreed. Just learn your trees. Relying on the Iphone to do your thinking will turn your brain to mush.
> agreed. Just learn your trees. Relying on the Iphone to do your thinking will turn your brain to mush.
The app seems like a good way to learn to identify trees on the fly. I'd use it if there were an Android version.
Most of my topos have at least some trees labeled only with size and "unidentified." The very few times that the ID was important, an arborist has been engaged to mark up the topo with the proper names. I'm not an arborist, dendrologist or forester, so I'm not going to certify that tree species IDs are accurate in any case.
> If you do not know your dendrology, what do you do in the wintertime? Seems like that's a critical piece of knowledge that has no substitute.
Agreed! During the summer months when I was in high school, trees came fairly easy, but winter breaks were much tougher. We had (don't know where it is) a pocket sized tree identification book (more of a pamphlet with real pictures and hard backs) that would fit in your back pocket. Once the winter of 1992 was over, I could identify the tree pretty good, and summer and spring was even easier. The more you know, the more you know.
Also, I would add, it is important to know common names of trees in generations past also. They can be different than now. THAT is huge when looking for older witness trees and knowing what time of the year they were marked. Knowing those two things will help lead you to the correct tree, even if it was misidentified then (i.e. a water hickory was called a hog pecan).
and a gum bumelia was called a...well nevermind.
Thank you all for your input.
I hope I recover from the mush brain syndrome with enough time to become an arborist and a surveyor.
JA, PLS SoCal
Leafsnap app looks promising, but it's too bad that they don't have it available for Androids. Not everyone is sucked into the Iphone/Ipad hype.
As far as knowing dendrology, these apps and websites will help those who need it to learn it. I wouldn't see it as a crutch, but an aid to reinforce learning.
Pick the dead leaf up off the ground.