Hi
I have just acquired, and am delighted with, an Apple iPhone.
One of the most appealing (to a geek like me) factors of the iPhone is the ability to add Applications or “Apps” as they are called.
These are programs that run on the iPhone, allowing the phone to become an e-toolkit.
For example, I have on mine, World Wide Tide Tables, Moon Phase Calendar, Appointment Calendars, Compass (really accurate!), Sat Nav (it has a built in GPS), Calculator, Voice Recorder, Video Camera, Alarm Clocks, Weather Gadgets, Interactive London Underground Map, Planetarium, Traffic Jam Information, Spirit Level (really!), Piano, TV Guide, Magnifying Glass, and Apps for Office Documents.
Obviously it also surfs the Net and sends E-Mail and you can even make telephone calls on it!
Now, these Apps are usually either free, or very inexpensive. The most I have paid for an App is £3 for a complex one that enables Office Documentss to be stored, modified, created, viewed and shared.
During my search for Apps, I came across “Butterflies of Britain and Ireland”.
It was described as-
“A comprehensive interactive field guide covering all 61 butterfly species that regularly occur in Britain and Ireland. A fantastic resource to have in the field, this handy guide contains everything you need to confidently identify butterfly species at all life stages: adults, larvae (caterpillars), pupae and even eggs”
It looked good in the description, and the screen shots looked excellent, and very familiar.
On further investigation I found that the illustrations were by Richard Lewington and many of the photographs were by a certain Peter Eeles (who he?). However the App was priced at a fairly hefty £9.99.
Well, as a Butterfly nut I couldn’t resist, and I clicked the “Buy Now” icon.
It is produced by the Birdguides people, and is in association with BC – so perhaps a bit of my £9.99 will go to a good cause?
The App opens quickly to a home page of a list of 61 butterflies in family groups or alphabetical order .
Strangely it includes Large Tortoiseshell, but omits Camberwell Beauty, has Large Copper, but no Geranium Bronze, Long-tailed Blue or even the Monarch.
Tap on the thumbnails and a slide-able page opens with somewhere around 10 thumbnails of the Lewington illustrations, between 4 and 10 excellent photographs, a distribution map, a phenogram and a text document.
Clicking on a photo or illustration opens it full screen, and the flip screen function is supported.
You can scroll back and forth through the photographs, illustrations, map and phenogram.
The photos and illustrations are excellent, and you can zoom in and out for extra detail with finger “pinches”. Usefully, the distribution maps are also zoomable.
I feel the developers have missed a trick in not allowing illustrations of different species to be viewed side by side. It would be good to have a “confusion species” section. Perhaps the next version upgrade will support this? They could do a lot worse than to look at this website for ideas!
So – is it worth nearly a tenner?
Probably.
The illustrations are superb, and the text informative, and as far as I can tell, accurate.
I can envisage times when it will be useful.
I doubt it will be used much in the field, but to settle the occasional identification confusion it could be very useful.
Perhaps it will help to illustrate conversations with non-butterflieists and show them the beauty of our hobby.
The phenograms can aid weekend or year planning.
To summarise – a beautiful and useful App. Probably a little over priced, but with great scope for enhancements.
I like it.
iPhone App
- Rogerdodge
- Posts: 1177
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2006 6:06 pm
- Location: North Devon
iPhone App
Cheers
Roger
Roger
- Padfield
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Re: iPhone App
I agree - the iPhone is a remarkable gadget and there are some fantastic apps for it, including that UK Butterflies one.
Another you might consider getting before you come out to CH is Swiss Map Mobile. The basic app is very cheap (CHF 4.40), and for that you get a route map of the whole of Switzerland as well as the equivalent of half a sheet of a Swiss 1:25 000 series map. Each full section, equivalent to over 40 sheet maps, costs CHF 89, which is a lot for an app but fantastic value, given that the maps never crease, tear or otherwise get worn out. The maps are identical in content to the standard Swiss sheet maps (the equivalent in scale and detail of OS Explorer maps), except of course that you can use GPS with them and record waypoints (i.e., butterfly sightings) using either the Swiss grid or latitude and longitude.
Map tiles are downloaded as and when required, and all tiles downloaded are cached on the iPhone. That means you can download the tiles you want at home or chez moi, on wifi, and use them in the field without data roaming charges.
If you decide to buy a section, get Valais. That covers the whole region from about Lausanne (in Vaud) all the way along the Rhône Valley, including where I live and all my regular butterfly spots. If you get the app but don't buy a section, then wait until you get here to download the tiles you will need. If you just browse away you will soon find you have used up your half sheet free allowance!
Guy
PS - I've edited some of the details because I got them wrong in my first post!
Another you might consider getting before you come out to CH is Swiss Map Mobile. The basic app is very cheap (CHF 4.40), and for that you get a route map of the whole of Switzerland as well as the equivalent of half a sheet of a Swiss 1:25 000 series map. Each full section, equivalent to over 40 sheet maps, costs CHF 89, which is a lot for an app but fantastic value, given that the maps never crease, tear or otherwise get worn out. The maps are identical in content to the standard Swiss sheet maps (the equivalent in scale and detail of OS Explorer maps), except of course that you can use GPS with them and record waypoints (i.e., butterfly sightings) using either the Swiss grid or latitude and longitude.
Map tiles are downloaded as and when required, and all tiles downloaded are cached on the iPhone. That means you can download the tiles you want at home or chez moi, on wifi, and use them in the field without data roaming charges.
If you decide to buy a section, get Valais. That covers the whole region from about Lausanne (in Vaud) all the way along the Rhône Valley, including where I live and all my regular butterfly spots. If you get the app but don't buy a section, then wait until you get here to download the tiles you will need. If you just browse away you will soon find you have used up your half sheet free allowance!
Guy
PS - I've edited some of the details because I got them wrong in my first post!
Guy's Butterflies: https://www.guypadfield.com
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html