iPhone app helps identify trees

[Paul Snowden]

Thought I would post this as a new thread so more people would get the chance to see it


http://www.kwch.com/news/kwch-djr-tech-talk-iphone-app-helps-identify-trees-20110609,0,679485.story

Tech Talk: iPhone app helps identify trees

by Dave Roberts
KWCH 12 Eyewitness News
11:49 AM CDT, June 9, 2011
(WICHITA, Kan.)

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Can you identify a larch tree? Neither can I. Scientists put together an iPhone and iPod Touch app that allows you to photograph the leaf of a tree, and the app will identify what kind of tree it belongs to. It’s called Leafsnap and it uses the Smithsonian Institution’s database of leaf images. Since its debut, it’s been downloaded over 150,000 times.
This is not the first time an app allows you to photograph something and it tells you what you’re looking at. “LookTel Money Reader” allows people to photograph any part of an American bill, and it will speak the denomination. It’s advertised specifically to people who are visually impaired to help them know better how much money is in their pockets.
The software that drives these apps to help identify what you’re looking at, is similar in scope to the facial recognition software that identifies who’s in photographs used by Apple’s iPhoto and now Facebook.
The way it works on Facebook is when someone uploads a picture to the page, the software recognize the face of someone and basically automatically tag who’s in it. The user needs to approve that the tag is correct before it’s published. Apple’s iPhoto works the same way. Unfortunately, in this writer’s experience, I’ve had moments where it program shows me the up-close image of an elbow, asking me to identify who that is.
Obviously, nothing is perfect. I didn’t know who’s elbow I was looking at, and I don’t know what a larch tree looks like

[Neil Brooks]

Useful ... particularly since ... right now ... I'm visually impaired AND have more pieces of trees than I have dollar bills :)

[Bobby O'Neal]

This is cool. I like when my phone justifies itself.

[Mike Henderson]

I downloaded the app and so far, it hasn't worked. I take a picture of a leaf and it goes through it's gyrations to upload the picture, then I get a message saying "server error". I've tried it multiple times over multiple days. Same message.

Mike

[Jim Summers]

I downloaded the app and so far, it hasn't worked. I take a picture of a leaf and it goes through it's gyrations to upload the picture, then I get a message saying "server error". I've tried it multiple times over multiple days. Same message.

Mike

Just tried it tonight and got the same result. Hopefully they'll get it fixed cause it seems like a cool idea.

[Mike Henderson]

I tried it this evening and I was able to get a result - but it wasn't much use. I took a picture of a leaf from an avocado tree in my yard but the system could not recognize it. It gave me a whole bunch of alternatives but none were even close.

But at least it got further then the "server error".

Mike

[BTW, when you take the picture, you need to put the leaf on a white sheet of paper. You can't just take a picture of a leaf on a tree.]

[Jim Summers]

I tried it this evening and I was able to get a result - but it wasn't much use. I took a picture of a leaf from an avocado tree in my yard but the system could not recognize it. It gave me a whole bunch of alternatives but none were even close.

But at least it got further then the "server error".


Mike

[BTW, when you take the picture, you need to put the leaf on a white sheet of paper. You can't just take a picture of a leaf on a tree.]

Very good. I was browsing the leafsnap website and it appears that they have a good coverage of the eastern side of the US. So maybe over time they will get more data online.

HTH

[Jim Becker]

I posted about this in OT the other day. The current release of the app is relatively limited in species, but they plan to update the database incrementally as soon as they can. We'll all just have to have some patience! Long term, the app looks very promising. "Recognition" software really has come a long way and this is yet another example of a great way to put that to use.

[Mike OMelia]

Took a picture of a leaf. All it said was "rope"

Mike

[Mike Heidrick]

Do not take pics of your wacky tobaccy leaves MikeO, it thought it was Hemp. :)

[Prashun Patel]

Reviving this thread.

I just downloaded Leafsnap for the iPad yesterday. Perhaps there are others like it, but I think they really got this app right. The big feature of this app is that it can id trees from a photo. However, personally, I just like the user interface for browsing. It shows photos of both bark, leaf (and other features like fruit). I've been looking for something like this for a while. Anyway, just thought I'd share my opinion. Oh yeah, it's free.

[Danny Hamsley]

I guess that tree ID people like me will go extinct.