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Really good idea



Hi, could someone make an app that, maybe uses a similar technology, to be able to identify plants, animals, and fungi? You could make it into a database where the users of the app put in the information, much like Wikipedia, so its ever evolving. I'd really like to be able, in my wood travels, to take my non existing iphone, and scan an organism with it and know all about it. I feel that that would be awesome.

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49
lemonie says: Apr 28, 2012. 1:39 PM
If your database had leaf & flower-shapes it could work with good pictures. However, you would also need a set of questions.
Have you seen those "20-questions machines"? they're pretty good for cheap-machines; you just need to change the database.

L
16
The Cartographer (author) in reply to lemonieApr 28, 2012. 2:19 PM
Yes I think with that set up, image recognition could be used as a very handy information tool, rather than just something to spy on the populace.
169
Kiteman in reply to The CartographerApr 28, 2012. 2:29 PM
You misunderstood Lemonie.

He wasn't saying that the system would work purely on image recognition, but also on questioning - for instance, many different kinds of plant have very similar leaves, but at different scales, which is something image-recognition could not cope with.

In many cases, it would probably also only be able to narrow thing down to general types, since even experts spend a lot of time arguing over the identification of similar species.

Nice idea, though.
16
The Cartographer (author) in reply to KitemanApr 28, 2012. 3:53 PM
Always glad to get your 2 cents Kiteman.
169
Kiteman in reply to The CartographerApr 28, 2012. 4:12 PM
Although, being British, it's my two pence worth... ;-)
16
The Cartographer (author) in reply to KitemanApr 29, 2012. 1:09 AM
Ha I guess. Though our currency's worth more than yours ;]
169
Kiteman in reply to The CartographerApr 29, 2012. 7:33 AM
More widely accepted in areas that have suffered your past military depredations, maybe, but 2p is "worth" 3.25c.
49
lemonie in reply to The CartographerApr 29, 2012. 2:01 AM
How do you qualify "worth" with respect to currencies?
Today the unit-unit ratio is  £1 : $1.63 but that doesn't help me...

L
17
blkhawk says: Apr 28, 2012. 1:16 PM
I am very sure that such technology is still in the distant future. You are asking something that requires AI (artificial intelligence). Even the app that is in the video, assuming that the video is real, translates the final message incorrectly. The translation should say "Y tambien va en la otra dirección".
For software to consider the shape, color, patterns, kingdom, genus, species, etc., requires thousands and thousands of lines of code. Although it sounds like an awesome idea, I believe that it is beyond of the capability of today's technology.
16
The Cartographer (author) in reply to blkhawkApr 28, 2012. 2:18 PM
I think it could happen with the right people involved. If you watched the video image recognition software is fairly good, even if some things need to be fixed. I think the coding would be similar to the one in the video, but with people taking photos and adding information it should be to hard. It would have to be cloud based for sure just to handle all of the information involved, but it should work. People just need to enter adequate information and take good photos.
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