ObsIdentify app for iOS and Android
'Recognise nature in one click' is what the ObsIdentify app proudly pronounces when first opened. And recognise it does – or at least it has for pretty much everything I've tried it on so far in the few weeks that I've been using it.
The ObsIdentify app, available to download free of charge for both iOS and Android, is a venture from the Dutch non-profit foundation, Observation International, which is responsible for Observation.org, a citizen science sightings platform where, in a similar vein to the more familiar eBird, BirdTrack or iRecord apps, members of the public are encouraged to record nature they see and then submit observations. While Observation.org is less widely used in Britain, it is very popular in several European countries and has built up a formidable database and following.
This has allowed for the creation of ObsIdentify, an image recognition app that allows users to identify puzzling flora or fauna while in the field. The app's AI is built on the huge volume of observations submitted and, as I found out, already seems to be highly accurate. Although the app has been around a couple of years already, it is now being used increasingly by British naturalists and thus is surging to prominence here – and deservedly so.
Overall, this is a slickly designed app and I found it very easy to use. Simply take a photo of the mystery species and then press 'identify'. After a few seconds, an answer is produced. More often than not, the app gave an answer with 100% certainty, although with a few micro moths and plants it occasionally threw up multiple options. For every identification, a handy 'About the species' option links through to the taxon page on the Observation.org website in just a couple of clicks, where text, photos, sounds (if applicable) and observations can be explored.
The 'Save' option adds an observation to your account (free to create), automatically recording it and feeding back stats. There are a couple of other nice touches: the Badges feature sets goals and is a good way to engage newcomers and, importantly, youngsters (this is real-life Pokémon GO!), while Challenges encourage you to search for certain species in conjunction with other observers.
As an amateur botanist, this was a really useful app for immediately identifying numerous unknown plants on a recent trip to Norfolk. It has also been brilliant for moth trapping – no need to tediously flick through the field guide for every micro, for this app more often than not saves plenty of time and, at the very least, points you in the right direction if it doesn't offer a conclusive identification. It's well worth downloading.
Example screenshots from the ObsIdentify app for iOS.
Further details
- Price: free
- Available to download via the App Store or Play Store.
This review was originally published in the August 2022 issue of Birdwatch magazine.
