LeafSnap: The New Field Guide

Monday, May 9th
by Editor, Soiled and Seeded

Leafsnap is a new mobile app that identifies trees based on the photographs of their leaves. The visual recognition software is a result of research collaborations between Columbia University, University of Maryland and the Smithsonian Institute. At the moment Leafsnap covers the trees of New York City and Washington D.C., but will expand to include the whole of the United States.

From their website: "Leafsnap turns users into citizen scientists, automatically sharing images, species identifications, and geo-coded stamps of species locations with a community of scientists who will use the stream of data to map and monitor the ebb and flow of flora nationwide."

This app is free and the first of a series of upcoming electronic field guides.