captaincalamity wrote:Sorry its me again, don't like to tell you what you should and should not do, as I haven't got a clue how you do any of this...
But here is how I use a bird guide out in the field...
Device HTC diamond 1
Often running OS maps Memory map navigator as I am walking.
have Collins bird guide and your Pocket birds v2.3.2 running in the background.
You see what you think is a tit of some kind, hmm was it a coal tit....binoculars up...spotted it...there's more of them...long tails...must be a...open pocket birds first, groups tits, comes up with great tit first...press search button...scroll down to long tail tit.....yes that's what it is...test out sound (NOTE: would be nice to be able to break down the sounds into call, song, male and female)...often at this point I open Collins bird guide (wait as it loads up, faff about searching for the long tailed tit, but when I do get there, the illustrations are easily scrolled for lots if info, the sounds are well broken down into call, song, male, female, similar info can be found to Pocket Birds)...now I am back to Pocket Birds as often my Wife is saying is that a long tails tit....yes look and I show her a photo from Pocket Birds as she prefers photos to the illustrations...(NOTE: at this point, now I guess this is probably completely impossible, but to be able to press a button and store the GPS location, linking to the bird you have loaded, that would be fantastic)
We then sit and enjoy the birds, carry on walking until the next spotting, every time I pull out Pocket Birds first as its the fastest, easiest to search, finger friendly ....
Thanks for the various veiwpoints (and the description of how you use the soft, Captain, very useful). I really wish to get this right for everyone so please DO say what you want from this software, guys! It would be nice if I could put it all together in the next point release.
SINGLE-CLICK SEARCH.. Now you put it that way I can see the single-click bird list is a must-have. I have been spending so much time working out how to code things on the program that I have had little time to actually USE IT
If I'd used it more I would have realised why I put the search bird option as a single button in the first place!
- So I will change the display back to the v2.x display button layout.
GPS LOCATION OF BIRD.. Not a problem - I can do that easily.
Would the gps position of the bird sighting be better saved in the bird's Note or in a dedicated gps text file for that bird? Maybe it could be exported to gps memory map type mapping display? (That last suggestion is a bit more difficult maybe but would be very useful to gps users like me.)
- I will add that as an optional feature.
PHOTOS.. Well, again guys, I love seeing photos too. And again, it was my boyfriend who didn't think they looked right in the software. I agree that a photo gives something that an illustration cannot. One nice thing about using photos is that those of us who try to take our own bird pictures would be able to use our own pics in the software. The photos could be an add-on, yes. Or they could replace the detailed illustration. But that Detailed bird page is so useful. (Yesterday we were walking around a Southern English lake and we saw a Cormorant. Without the Detailed illustration page we couldn't tell if it was a Shag or a Cormorant.)
- I will add them as part of the program. (Need to change some of the pictures to better ones too)
BIRD SONGS.. Breaking the songs up into male, female, display-song, etc. Lots of work and how would it work on-screen? A single click button wouldn't work if we did it this way. What I have learned from your comments of the version 3 release is that it would be better to keep the interface simple with single-click buttons like it was in v2. Any ideas would be welcome
SCROLL-PAD.. Is that little scroll-pad thingy useful or a waste of time?
(I'd love to use the large detailed illustration as they do in Collins eBird Guide but with the language I have written the software with, that isn't currently possible as the image control doesn't support it. I would need it to report the x/y coords of the finger tap and the x/y coords of the position when the user lets up on the image after dragging and it doesn't give those data as yet. Maybe another language compiler will but that would take a lot of time to port the code over.)
Thanks Guys, for the comments. Please keep them coming even if they seem like criticisms. In a week I will put them all together and make a new release.
Sarah
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