The Leafsnap App adds to a long list of situations in which you can say "There is an app for that!". User of the iPhone have a mobile app that can help them with plant identifications. This could be a useful app for both faculty, students and hobbyists.
Type of Material:
iPhone App
Recommended Uses:
Provides digital library for plant identification or the app has the ability to take a picture of a leaf on a white 8.5" x 11" sheet of white paper and offer up potential matches. This is a great tool for identification of leaves and might be useful to students in dendrology or botany courses.
Technical Requirements:
An iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iOS 4.2 or later. The app requires a wireless connection and white background (e.g. a piece of paper).
Identify Major Learning Goals:
The Leafsnap app does not have specific learning goals stated within the program, but it does include "learning games" that increases its contribution to the learning process.
Target Student Population:
Hobbyists, undergraduate or graduate level students. Anyone can use this app
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Definitely helpful to have some knowledge of botanical terms. Some experience with plant classification and identification will increase the apps usefulness.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
High resolution images for seeds, berries, leaves and flowers
The leaves in the app have brief descriptive text and links to the Encyclopedia of Life
Keeps database of personal images
Keeps geotags for images
he scientific name of the species is given
Concerns:
At this time the tree database is somewhat restricted to trees in the Northeast United States
Just under 200 species in database, but this will surely grow
Family names are not given for the species in the app
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
This app works quite well--I tested it on several leaves and it got them right, even in poor lighting and a non-white background
This is clearly the first wave of new types of alpha taxonomy tools
Provides an excellent resource when all you have with you is your cell phone
The ability to take a picture of a leaf (on a white background) and get a list of potential matches has a lot of potential
Concerns:
This app currently only identifies trees of the Northeastern US
Some users report less than perfect results, even with common species
The list of potential matches provided from a picture is not always helpful for identification
Requires a wireless connection, which may not be available in the field
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
Leafsnap is a well designed app.
Does not require much technical knowledge beyond Smart Phone skills.
Concerns:
Requires a pure white background (users can carry a piece of paper or cloth
Requires a wireless connection
Creative Commons:
Search by ISBN?
It looks like you have entered an ISBN number. Would you like to search using what you have
entered as an ISBN number?
Searching for Members?
You entered an email address. Would you like to search for members? Click Yes to continue. If no, materials will be displayed first. You can refine your search with the options on the left of the results page.
Searching for Members?
You entered an email address. Would you like to search for members? Click Yes to continue. If no, materials will be displayed first. You can refine your search with the options on the left of the results page.
