Another phone app for field work that some may find particularly useful is "Epicollect" developed by Imperial College London - this excellent app is completely free and available for iPhone and Android. The app allows you to develop field data forms for easy data collection using your iPhone - It is easy to create data forms for about any project you can imagine. The forms capitalize on the touchpad screens of these new smartphones and can include blocks for text entry (using the phone's touchpad keyboard), radio buttons (permitting selection one or multiple entries) and drop down menus. The forms also easily integrate auto-filled latitude and longitude using the phone's GPS, and can capture geo-tagged photos from the phone's camera. The beauty of the system is that users from disparate geographic areas can easily download and use the same data forms on their phones (from a freely hosted website you create at EpiCollect.net), and then upload data to your site using the cellular or wi-fi networks. The Principal Investigator can review the data uploaded by the various users, view maps of geographic dispersion of all or some of the uploaded data, and can download all data for analyses. The system is a great platform for many ecological research applications, but seems especially suited for projects involving many individuals collecting data over wide spatial scales (e.g. regional or statewide survey efforts, citizen science projects, agency wide initiatives, etc...). No one can view your site without knowing first that it is there and being invited.****
** ** For more information see: Aanensen DM, Huntley DM, Feil EJ, al-Own F, Spratt BG (2009) EpiCollect: Linking Smartphones to Web Applications for Epidemiology, Ecology and Community Data Collection. PLoS ONE 4(9): e6968. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0006968**** ** ** Or visit www.epicollect.net**** ** ** FYI - I do not work for or with Imperial College London or any of the developers.**** ** ** ** ** David F. Tessler**** Regional Wildlife Biologist, Wildlife Diversity Program**** Alaska Department of Fish and Game**** Division of Wildlife Conservation**** 333 Raspberry Road**** Anchorage, Alaska 99518**** Phone: (907) 267-2332**** Fax: (907) 267-2433**** Email: [email protected]**** Web: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifediversity.staff**** ** **
