Photopoint Monitoring App Review (iPhone, iPad) - Retake

I don't develop apps.  But if I did, one of my ideas would be to create the perfect photo-monitoring app for natural resource studies and long-term monitoring.  After all, photopoint monitoring is a great way to show how vegetation and landscapes change over time, or due to management or restoration activities.  My "ideal" photomonitoring app would:

1. offer a photo "overlay" feature that shows a transparent image of the original photograph so that you could line up new photos when repeating visits to the photopoint station,
2. allow importing of previously geo-located/geo-tagged photos and by reading EXIF data, for instance, and placing them on a map background,
3. navigate you to an imported photo,
4. allow you to adjust image quality and optionally stamp the image with meta-data such as plot name, date, time, location, and direction, and
5. work glitch-free, of course.

Here I review the first of three apps that I recently came across for iPhone/iPads that have some of these components:

Retake Photo Toolbox Review 

$0.99 developed by Stefan Preuss. Version 1.0 tested using an iPhone 5c with iOS 8.1.2.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/retake-photo-toolbox-3in1/id686417009?mt=8

This app comes the closest to offering the suite of features I'd like to see in a quality photomonitoring app. It offers three features:

"Photo Overlay" feature

• Good: Easy to use, adjustable overlay transparency (although it can't be done "on the fly" while lining up the repeat photograph), can use photos in camera roll, and the new image saves to camera roll.
• Bad: there seems to be an offset between what's seen with the overlay picture and what is actually taken. See images below.

 First, I tested the overlay features by using a dash mount as a stable base to make sure I was lining up the photographs in the same spot between pictures.

 This image shows that you can choose an overlay from the Camera Roll or use a "preset" overlay, such as a grid, and adjust the opacity.

 The overlay allows you to see the original picture so you can line up the repeat photo.  Flash mode can be chosen.  Note that exposure is center-weighted only, you cannot tap on different portions of the screen to expose/focus as in regular camera mode on the iPhone.




Below are the original "before" and re-take "after" photo, showing the "offset" even after aligning the overlay and new photographs properly. This offset is most pronounced with objects in the foreground and would not be as noticeable for distance landscape pictures.

Unfortunately, this offset is a deal breaker for use in the field since I feel I can do a better job by having a print of the original photo and lining up the landscape through the viewfinder or touch screen.  Fortunately, I think this is a flaw that the developer could easily fix in the next version.

"(Re)locate Photo" feature

This feature maps the location of photos previously taken with the Retake app.

• Good: Shows photos on map with location pin, distance and compass bearing to photo point, thumbnail, and address (address happened to not display for the example photo).  Also, you to navigate to photo location either by walking or driving. Navigation uses the Apple Maps app.  By long-pressing the image in the location menu, you can select a picture to use for your current "location" or you can manually edit the lat/lon coordinates.
• Bad:  Can't seem to automatically or batch import geo-located pictures to navigate to without manually entering lat/lon data individually. There's a locations.csv file but can't seem to edit in either Notepad nor Excel to add "locations" and pictures.  Also, it only shows one photo location at a time. For now I would use the ExifWizard app for batch uploading and navigating to photos that have embeded location info.

Finally, there is a "Fast Switch" feature

This allows you to rapidly switch between two to six images. The switching time is adjustable, or you can choose to tap to switch.  The feature works without flaws although for now I don't see a use for it.

Bottom Line:
The Retake Tool app is a solid contender for a great photopoint monitoring app, but falls short in useability.  Besides a few minor improvement suggestions, two aspects prevent me from further using or recommending this app - the mis-alignment of the retake feature and the inability to easily batch import geo-located images to display and navigate to.  The good news is that the developer may be able to implement these improvements which would make it the best photomonitoring tool that I've found so far.

Disclosure: The developer of this app provided me with the app for free for testing purposes. The only promise I made back to him was that I would provide a fair review based on what I found.

Other photomonitoring apps that show potential (to be reviewed soon):

GrassSnap

Compares

ExifWizard

TomTom 

• The TomTom app is mentioned for it's reported ability to navigate to geo-referenced photos, but I have not tested it's performance.

Wetland Delineation Plant Name Look-up Tool

This tool is similar to my "Bird Macro Library" and "Plant Code Lookup" Excel tools that convert AOU bird codes or standardized plant symbol codes into scientific names, common names, family names, etc.

This Excel tool takes your list of plant symbols or latin names, compares them to the list of codes or names in the National Wetland Plant List (2012), and returns the Wetland Indicator Status for the region that you select.  For instance, it'll return "OBL", "FAC", "FACU", "UPL" if the plant is listed in the database.

The macro-enabled spreadsheet (Excel 2007 and 2010 only for now) can be downloaded here:
http://fielddata.blogspot.com/p/downloads.html

Data for the lists comes from the 2012 National Wetlands Plant List as found on the USDA PLANTS website as of April 8, 2012 at:  http://plants.usda.gov/wetland.html

Thanks to the USDA NRCS, ACOE, USFWS, and other other organizations and individuals who contributed to this list.

There are two ways to convert the data, one way is copying and pasting your information into the spreadsheet tables and the other uses VBA Macros to lookup and convert data in your existing spreadsheets to show the Wetland Indicator Status.  Here are some basic instructions:

Instructions (Non-Macro):

1. Download and open the file "NationalWetlandPlantListMacros.xlsm". Use the worksheet tabs "Code Lookup," "Latin Name Lookup," or "Common Name Lookup."
2. Copy your plant codes or latin names into the columns highlighted in yellow.
• Note: This method supports plant lookups on the subregion list, the macro method does not at this time.
3. Example data are in the first columns and can be replaced.  Insert rows as necessary.
4. Sheets are protected to prevent change to the non-highlighted cells.  Use Unprotect Sheet on the "Review" tab to undo.
5. If using common names, note that not all plants have common names in the wetland plant list. Try converting to scientific names or symbol using the "Plant Code Lookup" spreadsheet first.

Instructions (Macro):

1. Download, open, and enable macros in the file "NationalWetlandPlantListMacros.xlsm".
2. While the macro library is open, the macros can be run in any other workbook that is also open on your computer.
3. In your spreadsheet, make a copy of the column with the plant code symbols or latin names that you want to look up.
• For instance:  If your names are in column A, make a copy of the names in column B.
• This is because codes or names will be overwritten and cannot be undone.
4. Highlight the codes that you want to convert (i.e. the ones in column B) and press the shortcut key:
• Ctrl+w to convert plant symbol codes into Wetland Indicator Status Codes.  A selection box (see below) will ask which region you want to convert to.
• Ctrl+Shift+W to convert latin names into Wetland Indicator Status Codes.  Again, a selection box will ask which region you want to convert to.
• Note: plant latin names must be spelled exactly the same as in the "NWPL" tab.

Tip:  Practice the macros on the "Macro Test" tab to get a good idea of how the tools work. Also, backup your work before using the tool until you are accustomed to using it.  Note that if you change the name of the workbook or the worksheet tabs, some of the formulas and macros won't work.

If you wish, learn about using VBA Macros for Wetland, Wildlife, and other Natural Resource projects here.

As this is a new tool at this time, there may be some errors, so be sure to review the output and let me know if you come across any problems or if you have any questions and please sign my guestbook or send me a note to let me know how you find any of this information useful!

Using a Laptop as a Time-Activity Budget Data Recorder (or, recording data while looking through a scope)

This blog entry covers one method to efficiently record data on a laptop in the field using single-key strokes.  This method was useful for recording time activity budgets, a sampling method to assess temporal variations in an animal or population's behavior throughout a day or other time period.  The major benefits for using this technique was that it allowed me to record data while looking through a scope (see picture to the right) and it recorded data directly into an Excel spreadsheet which avoided having to re-enter data.  Other techniques, such as using tape recorders or printing calculators (I tried both), required time consuming re-copying of data into a spreadsheet for analysis.

There are two components of this technique, besides having a laptop with Excel:

1. Making a bracket to fit your laptop keyboard to execute the shortcut keys.
2. Setting up Excel with data entry macros assigned to shortcut keys.

I'll cover making the bracket first:

A. My prototype bracket was made out of cardboard and scotch tape.  Easy.

To the right is an image of the top.  It's simply multiple layers of cardboard taped together.  The layers give rigidity and raise the wrist up to make data entry easier and more ergonomic.  The bottom layer of cardboard sticks out to form the "L".  This protrusion covers and presses down both the the "Ctrl" and "Shift" keys to execute the macro shortcut keys for 1-stroke data entry.

B. This image shows the bottom of the bracket.  My finger is pointing to the stacks of cardboard that press down the control key under the "L" protrusion.  This view also shows the layers of cardboard on the top.  My final version was about twice as thick, which I found to be more comfortable.

C.  In use, the bracket sits on top of the laptop keyboard.  The bracket should be wide enough to cover the mouse pad to prevent accidental moving/clicking on any cells in the spreadsheet.  The weight of your hand on the top of the bracket is what presses down the control key. Because it's important that the bracket stays rigid, I wound up using a piece of stiff plexiglass for the bottom of the bracket so the "L" shaped protrusion wouldn't bend or crease under pressure.  The green circle shown in the photo to the right shows the placement of the bracket on the laptop.  You might see the plexiglass bottom and cleaner look from being glued rather than taped.

Next, the macro code and setting up shortcut keys:

Photo A above shows that there were 9 shortcut keys I used:  2 keys to identify the subject as Male or Female and 7 keys to depict 7 behaviors.  It's possible to program more keys, but it could get too difficult to efficiently enter data.  In my Excel sheet, I wanted the sex of the animal to be recorded in one column and the corresponding behavior it was engaged in in the column next to it.  So, for each individual, I would enter the sex immediately followed by the behavior.  If you're recording time budget data based on habitats, you can program keys to record habitat that each behavior is associated with rather than a male/female parameter.  Hitting the arrow or return/enter keys are not necessary with the macros codes below:

1)  Male/Female code in the first column

Open Excel and then press Alt+F11 to open Visual Basic.  Click on "Insert" and then  "Module".  Enter the following code into the Visual Basic module:

Sub MALE()
'
' MALE Macro
' types 'm' and goes to next column
'
' Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+shift+a
'
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "m"
    ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Range("A1").Select
End Sub

This macro enters an "m" in the cell that the cursor is in and then selects the adjacent cell to the right of that (sets you up to enter a behavior associated with the male).  Recall the R1C1 format is a relative cell reference code (for Row1Column1 format).  Click here for more info on the R1C1 format (opens in new page, scroll about 3/4 down the page for info). For the female macro, simply change the name of the macro (the word after the "Sub" command), switch out the "m" for "f", and the shortcut key in my example would be "ctrl+shift+z".  The text after the " ' " (single apostrophe) is for text that should not be read by the macro (for making notes in the code), so shortcut keys at this point are not actually assigned.

2) Behavior codes to be placed in the second column.

Insert another Module or add to the existing module created above:

Sub feeding()
'
' feeding Macro
' types 'feed' and goes down & to the left
'
' Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+sift+s
'
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "feed"
    ActiveCell.Offset(1, -1).Range("A1").Select
End Sub

This macro enters the word "feed" (for feeding) in the cell that is currently selected and then selects the cell to the lower left, setting up the spreadsheet for the next male/female entry.  The remainder of the 6 behaviors were assigned to the keys d, f, q, w, e, and r.

3) Assigning shortcut keys.

Once all the macros have been created, you can assign shortcut keys to run the macros using the braket described above and a single key stroke.

• Under the "View" ribbon tab, click on "Macros" on the right side.  Then click on "View Macros" if necessary.
• From the list of macros, select one of the macro names and click the "Options" button on the right.
• Place your cursor in the box under where it says "Shortcut Key" and press the "Shift" and whatever letter key you want to assign to it.  I use Ctrl+Shift+key because there are very few pre-programmed shortcut keys assigned to these key combinations.  For instance, Ctrl+z for all MS Office products is the shortcut key for "undo".  By assigning the "female" macro to Ctrl+Shift+Z, you can still use the "undo" shortcut key.

4) Use of the bracket and shortcut keys:

You start by selecting the cell where you want to start recording the first datum. In this case it would be the top of the "sex" column.  When the bracket is placed on the keys so that the "L" protrusion covers the Ctrl and Shift keys, those keys are depressed when the weight of your palm is on top.  So, all you have to do is press the "a" key for male or the "z" key for female followed by a behavior (s, d, f, q, w, e, or r keys).  I was able to do this quickly (maybe one datum entry per second) without having to remove my eyes from the scope.  I worked from a lawn chair or a pickup truck.

That's it for this blog.  Please let me know if you found this useful or if you have any questions & be sure to sign my guestbook!

Replacing AOU Bird Species Codes with Common Names, Latin Names, and Family Names in Excel. Plus, Sorting Birds by Phylogenetic Order.

I produced this tool to convert AOU Bird Species Alpha Codes (standard 4-letter codes established by the American Orithological Union) into common names or scientific names in Excel spreadsheets.  It has other functionality as well, such as helping to sort bird species in taxanomic order and by family.

Download the free Excel spreadsheet "BirdMacroLibrary.xlsm" (formerly "Colin's Macro Library.xls") by clicking the button below (or get general info about my natural resources downloads here). 

The spreadsheet uses Excel macros.  To learn more about using macros in my wildlife and botany spreadsheets, click here.  Spreadsheet works with Excel versions 2003, 2007, and 2010. (Also see my pages about Excel formula usage and a software disclaimer).

The first 4 sets of instructions below use macros, the 5th item uses formulas, and the 6th describes how to copy & paste your codes into a table to have them automatically converted.  If you're not comfortable using macros, go to part 6.

1. Replace AOU Codes with Common Names in Excel

The following instructions describe how to use Colin's bird macro library for Excel spreadsheets that have AOU codes in either columns or rows.  This macro will replace the AOU codes with the bird common name without disturbing data in adjacent columns (such as number detected, plot number, etc).  If it comes across an unknown code, it'll leave the code unchanged.  Note:  You can't undo this action.

1. Download "BirdMacroLibrary.xlsm", open it and enable macros if necessary (link above describes how).
2. Open your spreadsheet with bird data if it's not already open (both the macro library and your data spreadsheet need to be open on your computer).
3. In your spreadsheet, select all the 4-letter species codes you wish to convert.
4. Press the shortcut keys "Ctrl + Shift + R"  to replace all codes with the common name.  (i.e., press the "ctrl" key down and while still holding it down, press the "Shift" and "r" keys).

You can practice this on the "Bird Macro Practice" tab of the macro library spreadsheet.

Macro shortcut keys can be changed under menu item "View | Macros | View Macros" (Excel 2007/2010).  On the list of macros that show up, click on the name of the macro and then click on "Options" to change the shortcut.  Note that if you change the names of tabs or the filename of the macro library, some macros will not work.

2. Create New Column or Row and with Common Names in Excel

This is a bit of a safer operation since macros cannot be undone.  These macros will create a new column (or row) and place the common name that corresponds to the species code in it, rather than replacing the original code.  The directions are the same as above, except:

• Place your cursor on the first AOU species code in the row or column.
• If data is in columns, press "Ctrl + m".  If data are in a row, press "Ctrl + Shift + M".

You can practice this on the "Bird Macro Practice" tab of the macro library spreadsheet.

3. Replace AOU Species Code with ANY NAME in the AOU List

1. Again, have "BirdMacroLibrary.xlsm" open at the same time as your data spreadsheet.
2. It's recommended to make a copy of the column or row that has the species codes in it.
• Example: For data in columns, click on the column header with codes in it to select the whole column.
• Press "ctrl + c" to copy the selected column.
• Right-click on the column header and select "Insert".
• Place your cursor at the top of the new column, select the cell, and press "ctrl + v" to paste the data.
3. Highlight the species codes that you wish to convert.
4. Press "Ctrl + r". 
5. An input menu will pop-up that looks like the image below.  Enter a selection and press OK.

Pop-up input box to replace AOU species code with common name, scientific name, family, etc.

  You can practice this on the "Bird Macro Practice" tab of the macro library spreadsheet.

4. Sort Bird Lists by Phylogenetic Order

This macro will insert a column to the left of your AOU codes and place the phylogenetic sorting order of that species in the new column.  You then manually sort all the data based on the sort order.  Data must be in AOU species codes format and must be in columns.  (See next section below about how to use the VLOOKUP function to sort birds by phylogenetic order if the data are in common name or latin name formats, or edit the macro to suit your needs).

1. Have both the bird macro library and your data spreadsheet open at the same time.
2. Click on the first (top) AOU code in the column.
3. Press "ctrl + p".  A new column will be created and the sort orders will be placed in the cells.
4. Give the new column a name, such as "Phylogenetic Order."
5. Highlight all the data, in the table to ensure associated data, such as the record date or number detected, gets sorted with the species names.
6. Use the Excel sort tool to sort by the numbers in the "Phylogenetic Order" column, from low to high.
7. You may then delete the sort order column.

5. How to Sort Birds by Family Name (and cross-reference birds with other AOU info)

This section describes how to use a "VLOOKUP" function to assign ornithological Family names to lists of birds in Excel.  This is not a macro, but can easily be made into a macro function like those above.  But learning how to use this function will aid you in matching a list of birds in any format (AOU code, common name, or latin name) with any information cross-referenced in the AOU Alpha Code list (such as Order, Family, Sub-Family, Scientific Name, etc).

BirdMacroLibrary.xlsm has to be open in order to use this function as described here.

For this example refer to the image below:

For the example of matching AOU Alpha codes with family name, look at the text in GREEN in the example (sorry to those who are red/green colorblind).  This is the same data on the "code lookup example" tab of "BirdMacroLibrary.xlsm".

The VLOOKUP function has four parameters that need to be set:

1. Lookup_value is the cell that holds the bird name (it can be an AOU Code, common name, or scientific name).  In this example, the lookup value is "A3" and refers to "NOMO," or "Northern Mockingbird."
2. Table_Array tells Excel where to find the value that you want to look up and match.  '[BirdMacroLibrary.xlsm]LIST10'!A$2:H$2169 says to look in the macro library, and specifically look at the tab "LIST10" and at cells in the row and column range A3 to H2169. (The apparent double quotes in Colin''s is actually two single quotes, which is how the code says an apostrophe is used in the name).
3. Col_Index_Num tells which column holds the information that you want to match to the value that you just looked up.  In this case, cell A3 (NOMO) was the value that was looked-up and we want to match it to Family name, which is the 10th column on the tab 'LIST10'.
4. The last parameter (range_lookup) should be "FALSE".  This means only an exact match for the value in A2 will be used.  This is important because there are bird names (especially scientific and common names) that are fairly similar and a close match may wind up matching the wrong information.

Here are the steps to use the VLOOKUP function with "BirdMacroLibrary.xlsm" to match bird names with family names and then sort and group based on family:

• In a blank cell in an adjacent column to the bird name or code, type "=VLOOKUP(..." and enter all the parameter values as described above.  Also, title this column "Family Name" or similar.
• Copy the formula in the cell down the column to all rows of data.  Since we're using relative references, the lookup value will update itself for each row or bird record.
• Family names should appear in the column with the VLOOKUP formula in it.
• Highlight the column with family names in it and do a "Copy and paste values":
• After the column with the formulas are highlighted press the following shortcut keys (one at a time, not all at the same time): "alt", "e", "s", "v".
• Finally, follow the instructions in section 3 of this guide to sort the data by phylogenetic order.  Or, use the text in RED in the example above or in the spreadsheet to use a VLOOKUP statement to assign sort order values to your data.

6. Using the Bird Code Lookup sheet to cross-reference your list of bird Alpha Codes with all available information, including separate genus and species columns.

Again, this is not a macro, but is a spreadsheet tool in "BirdMacroLibrary.xlsm".

• Open my macro library and go to the "Bird Code Lookup" tab.
• Paste your species codes in the yellow column to have all other info show up.
• Copy & paste the info you need to your own spreadsheet. Remember to paste as "values" (press the following keys in order, not at the same time: "alt," "e," "s," and "v.")  You can follow this by pasting the text formats (alt, e, s, and t) if you wish.

Page is "protected."  You can only enter info into the yellow column.  To unprotect, go to "Review" and "Unprotect Sheet" in Excel 2007/2010.

AOU Bird species code converter spreadsheet tool (not a macro).

7. Updating "BirdMacroLibrary.xlsm"
The list used in my macro library to convert AOU species codes is from the most recent update provided on the Institute for Bird Populations website (http://www.birdpop.org/AlphaCodes.htm), which is Sept 19, 2012.

The taxonomic/phylogenetic order info came from the AOU website: http://checklist.aou.org/taxa.

If you need to update the spreadsheet, go to the IBP website and download the zipped DBF file "English and Scientific Alpha Codes for North American Birds"  (a note at the top of the page tells when the most recent update was). Copy and paste the data into the "LIST10" tab on Colin's macro library.  You'll need to add phylogenetic sort code column in colum "H" for the macros to work properly.

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That's all there is to using "Colin's macro library.xls" macros and spreadsheet tools.  A 3-part instructional blog for converting plant species codes into common names, scientific names, etc. is here.  Please leave me a comment if you have questions or feedback.

Part 3: Updating the Plant Look-Up Spreadsheet Lists from the USDA Plants Website

UPDATING THE DATABASE LOOK-UP LIST IN THE PLANT SPREADSHEETS

Edit 4/25/2013:  I updated all spreadsheets to be able to convert Scientific Names to Accepted Plant Symbols, which was a requested feature.  In order to do this, I had to eliminate plant synonyms from the data list. But, I added a few other columns such as Family Common Name, Family Symbol, and Order.  The images below look slightly different than those in the updated spreadsheets.  - Colin

If you're using Excel 2003, you should download the ".xls" files.   If you're using Excel 2003, be aware that there is a 65,536 row data limit. If you use the current list without plant synonyms, it's not a problem. However, if you wish to include plant synonyms, you may have to limit your list to a particular state.  To download another state (or to update the LIST worksheet in any of the workbooks), follow these instructions:

1. You'll need to download the list of plants from the USDA PLANTS database:
• Click here to open the link to the plants database with the correct settings selected.
• Click on "Review Selections or Sort Report"
• Click on "Modify Selections"
• Select the state you want plant info for or select other options to display.
• Click on "display results" at bottom of the screen. 
• On the new screen that comes up, click on the word "download" in small print on the upper right-hand portion of the screen, next to "Printer Friendly" 
• A new screen will appear with comma-delimited text. 
• Save the webpage as a text file.  There are many ways to do this, one way is to copy all the text, open notepad, paste the text, and save the file as a ".txt". 
2. Import plant list into Excel 
• Open Excel
• Click on "File" and "Open"
• Be sure the type of files being displayed is "txt" or "all files"
• On the first, "Step 1", screen be sure the circle or box next to "Delimited" is marked. 
• On the second step scree, be sure there's a check mark next to "comma" and the others are unchecked.
• On the final screen, click on "finish".
3. Copy all the plant codes and other data into this spreadsheet's "LIST" tab.
• On the plant list you imported into Excel in the last step, select all cells (or press  "Ctrl + a"), then press the copy button (or "Ctrl + c").  This will highlight and copy the entire worksheet.
• On the "LIST" tab of this workbook, press "Ctrl + a" and then either press the paste button or "Ctrl +v".
• Re-save the "Plant Code Lookup" file with the new state name abbreviation at the end.

You're ready to go!

Note: using the Excel 2003 version, plant families are not downloaded so will not show up on the code lookup page.


Review other sections of this topic:

• Introduction: Replace Plant Symbol Codes with Common Names, Latin (Scientific) Names, or Family Names (with and without Excel macros).
• Part 1:  Copy and paste plant symbol codes into Colin's Plant Code Lookup Excel spreadsheet tool to convert them into scientific/latin names, common names, and families.
• Part 2:  Use Colin's Plant Code Lookup Excel macro to convert plant symbol codes to scientific/latin names, common names, and family names.
• Part 3:  Customizing Colin's Plant Code Lookup Excel spreadsheet with individual states or custom lists.

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Also, see my blog and free download to convert AOU bird species codes into common name, scientific name, or family name.  The tool also helps sort bird lists in phylogenetic order.