Hi Ian and Carl
There are a range of PDA applications available for North American
(and possibly European) birding, and I think you can even buy a
dedicated PDA for birding, with built in field guide, calls, images,
database, etc. I don't know of anything like that for Australia as
yet, but I guess it will come eventually, but probably as software only.
For my trip to New Caledonia last January I took an iPod Touch and pre-
loaded it with images and calls I'd downloaded from the web. I think
it was OK to do this for personal use as long as I didn't share any of
the images/sounds, all of which is the property of various copyright
holders. I used this instead of a field guide because (a) I didn't
have time to get one shipped to me and (b) I didn't find a decent one
in any bookstore in Noumea. I also loaded some of the calls and images
onto my phone (Nokia N70) and this was useful for playing calls in the
field.
The iPod was great because I could zoom in to look at details in
images, and the interface makes it easy to find an image or sound
quickly. There is now a Software Development Kit for iPod/iPhone so
maybe we will see an iApp soon for birdwatchers ... but I won't be
holding my breath.
I think there is a wonderful opportunity for someone to put together a
Field Guide application for Australian birds - ideally something cross-
platform so that it could run on popular PDAs and maybe some
smartphones that use Symbian OS, etc. They will need access to images
and sounds, so it will probably need to come from one of the national
organisations - or from someone with a lot of time on their hands!!
Russell Woodford
On 25/03/2008, at 2:27 PM, Carl Clifford wrote:
Ian,
What exactly do you want to do with it and what type of computer you
use will determine which one to buy. There are some fairly good PDA
applications for birding available, but I think that they all
require a computer with Windoze.
Carl Clifford
On 25/03/2008, at 1:33 PM, Ian May wrote:
g'Day all
I have been intending to buy a PDA with integrated GPS to use in the
field as an aid for bird recording and navigation.
After reading http://www.cnet.com.au/mobilephones/pdas/0,2000938760,240055066,00.htm
, I learned that one should consider; Platform | Screen | CPU |
Memory | Expansion | Connectivity | Camera | Synchronization | Power
Well that's great but I still have not got a clue which one to buy.
Is there any thoughts/ discussion re PDA as a birding tool? Are
there any special considerations and recommendations of which one to
buy from birding-aus member?
Regards
Ian May
St Helens, Tasmania
currently at Price SA
0428337956
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message:
unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,send the message:
unsubscribe(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
