If you’ve ever been on a Sunday stroll in the park or in the woods, or even in your yard and wondered what kind of plant that is, there’s an app that can help you. Here’s a preview of a few apps that can help you identify plants with just a simple click.
PlantNet
An App called PlantNet, a project initiated in 2009 provides a platform and tools to make it easier to share information about plants. The app is basically an image search engine to help one identify plants and flowers by just taking a picture with your smart phone.
Images are collected through PlantNet and users help identify what plants are what through a rating system and can add additional information to help support the network.
Their newest project, IdentiPlante, will allow people to use the database to quickly receive data about the plant they have taken a picture of. At the moment there’s no specific focus on edible flowers but it could certainly be used in the future to help create a specific database of wild herbs and plants.
Take a look at the video below to see how it all works.
This app has a lot of potential but may have some limitations so here are some other apps to take a look at.
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Leafsnap
Leafsnap is a series of electronic field guides being developed by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution. The free mobile apps use visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves. They contain beautiful high-resolution images of leaves, flowers, fruits, petioles, seeds and bark.
NatureGate
NatureGate enables you to identify species in nature easily, no internet connection is needed. Create an account, download free Flower Identification Tool and begin identifying over 700 species. You can also take advantage of their other flora and fauna identification tools for a fee. The app has a free Observation Diary to record your findings, which you can accompany with a picture and text. And you can share your observations and check what others have seen near you.
Take a look at the video below to see how it all works.
iPflanzen
Pflanzen allows you to identify more than 1500 garden, park, and forest plants using a simple identification key with traits such as flower structure, leaf shape, flower color or fruit color. Depending on the season or visibility of plant parts, additional identification traits are available to classify a plant.
Google Goggles app
With Google Goggles you can just do a Google search by taking a picture with your device using the Google Goggles app. Just point your mobile phone camera at a painting, a famous landmark, a barcode or QR code, a product, a plant, or a popular image, . If Goggles finds it in its database, it will provide you with useful information.
This may not be the best plant identifier app, but it can be fun to play around with.
Take a look at the video below to see how Google Goggles works.