Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Cellphone Apps For Identifying Plants, Trees, Insects And Stars

 

Greetings,

Putting first things first! (... which, by the way, was Chesterton's definition of religion.)


Norma,

Many thanks to you and Richard for the fresh supply of magazines.

And for your treat! 

Yum!!!

You are unfailingly thoughtful and kind.

***
 
Some of the applications listed below are quite extraordinary.

Last night, when you --- joined by other beloved "Whites" --- were observing the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, I now conclude that you were using SkyView. https://www.space.com/rare-great-conjunction-jupiter-saturn-2020-wows-skywatchers

SkyView is an app whose reputation precedes it. 

Just point it anywhere -- even at the ground -- and it will identify EXACTLY which star (or other heavenly body) is "straight ahead of your cellphone" even if the star in question is located intergalactically above the other side of the world. 

My foremost personal goal in using these relatively new "phenomena identification apps" is to be able to identify - by sight - all the trees I meet as I walk about.

I would also love to be able to identify more stars - and especially constellations... Danny having turned me on to stargazing as a C.W. Stanford Middle School student.

I assume it is not necessary to spotlight the secondary utility of these apps as Christmas-giving possibilities.

But as I have opportunity to observe monthly (if not weekly), it is bloody easy to "overlook the obvious." 

So much is "hidden in plain sight." (Just consider the felonious, traitorous, screamingly-fascistic criminality of the Trump administration.)

So, if there is still someone on your gift list for whom you have not yet gotten a gift, here is a useful wish list.

Note that there is a lot of "application repetition" in the first category of "Plant Identification." 

Rather than weed through this redundancy myself, I thought y'all could put the apparent superfluity to good use by determining which free app gets the most rave reviews across the full spectrum of sources.
 

Plant Identification apps: 






The following app from the Apple App Store gets rave reviews and looks like it costs about $30 for all the whistles and bells: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/picturethis-plant-identifier/id1252497129


Tree Identification Apps:

Leafsnap
Leafsnap is a new free app that identifies trees. Go for a walk, take a shot of a leaf and this little wonder will identify its tree and give all kinds of information about it. The app is a result of a collaboration between Columbia University, the University of Maryland and the Smithsonian Institution.Oct 11, 2018
When you discover a beautiful wildflower or unusual looking shrub, and you struggle to discern its genus. Instead of wasting time trawling through websites or ...
 Rating: 5 · ‎2,963 votes · ‎Free · ‎Android · ‎Educational
Virginia Tech Tree Identification brings the award winning Virginia Tech digital dendrology material to your Android smart phone. It contains fact sheets for over ...
 Rating: 3.3 · ‎811 votes · ‎Free · ‎Android · ‎Educational
Jan 16, 2017 — Virginia Tech Tree ID. If you spend any time researching trees on the internet, you've no doubt stumbled across Virginia Tech's incredible ...
Open the Mac App Store to buy and download apps. Forest Tree Identification 4+. Find Trees ...
 Rating: 4.6 · ‎5 reviews · ‎Free · ‎iOS · ‎Educational
Description. Instantly identify plants of all kinds: flowers, trees, succulents, mushrooms, cacti and more! PlantSnap is the revolutionary plant identification app from ...
 Rating: 4.6 · ‎55,891 reviews · ‎Free · ‎iOS · ‎Educational
Dec 6, 2019 — Now there are apps that use the power of phones to do something not possible previously: identify a species simply by taking its picture.
Tree Identification Apps · Leafsnap uses visual recognition software to help you identify trees from photographs. · TreeBook relies on images, search, layman terms ...

Insect Identification Apps: 

Just point your phone's camera at an insect and let the learning begin with Picture Insect App. Picture Insect is a window to better understanding the wonderful world of insects. It can automatically identify more than 1000+ species of insects.
Aug 21, 2018 — Open the Mac App Store to buy and download apps. Insect Identification 4+. Identify insects like ...
 Rating: 4.6 · ‎3,990 reviews · ‎Free · ‎iOS · ‎Educational
4 days ago — Identifying insects has got easier with Picture Insect App. Simply take or upload a picture of the insect, and get accurate and instantaneous ...
 Rating: 4.3 · ‎5,387 reviews · ‎Free · ‎iOS · ‎Educational


Star Identifier Apps:

SkyView® Lite is a beautiful and intuitive stargazing app that uses your camera to precisely spot and identify celestial objects in sky, day or night. ... Simple: Point your device at the sky to identify galaxies, stars, constellations and satellites (including the ISS and Hubble) passing overhead at your location.
Star Walk 2 Free - Identify Stars in the Night Sky is a great astronomy guide to explore the night sky day and night, identify stars, constellations, planets, satellites, ...
 Rating: 4.6 · ‎318,432 votes · ‎Free · ‎Android · ‎Educational
Sky Map is a hand-held planetarium for your Android device. Use it to identify stars, planets, nebulae and more. Originally developed as Google Sky Map, it has ...
 Rating: 4.2 · ‎481,702 votes · ‎Free · ‎Android · ‎Reference
Sep 6, 2020 — NIGHT SKY 8. Designed for macOS Big Sur & Apple Silicon. Night Sky is a powerful personal planetarium. Quickly identify stars, planets, ...
 Rating: 4.4 · ‎537 reviews · ‎Free · ‎Reference
Apr 23, 2020 — This one uses your GPS to find the exact position of celestial bodies — you just have to point your phone at the stars. If you're looking with little ...


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