Leafsnap: Application recognizes the tree with a leaf photo

The method is simple and works through their smart mobile phone or tablet.

The users δεν έχουν παρά να φωτογραφίσουν ένα φύλλο του «άγνωστου» treey they come across on their way out on their country walks and Leafsnap, as it's called, will instantly present them with the species it's most likely to belong to along with the information about it.

The application was originally developed two years ago by American scientists in cooperation με το Ινστιτούτο Σμιθσόνιαν με «στόχο» recognitions the trees of the United States, and especially of their northern regions. But now it is also coming to this side of the Atlantic starting from Britain, thanks to an initiative of the Natural History Museum of London. Museum scientists collaborated with researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland and the Smithsonian Institution who developed Leafsnap to create an app tailored to the British countryside.

Leafsnap UK, like its American cousin, is based on a technology similar to that used in face recognition software. With its help it compares the user's photo within seconds with a database of 156 tree species and displays the one that fits most. In addition to the ability to instantly recognize, the application also offers an impressive database of more than 2.000 high resolution images from the leaves, flowers, fruits and bark of the various trees. The analysis is such that users can "zoom out" and see stunning details, such as the fine beaks of the beech leaves (Fagus sylvatica).

In addition to the images, the data also includes information on each species - for example whether it is endemic to Britain or whether it came from other areas where it grows or when it blooms - as well as information and features that help identify it. Along with the knowledge provided by the application, it also enables the user to contribute to science: his photo is automatically "uploaded" to the Leafsnap database along with the geographical location of the tree he depicts so that it can be used by scientists. who study the flora of Britain and its tree populations.

“Leafsnap UK is an exciting development for us as it brings its knowledge Museumliterally in the palm of people'' said in a press release Fred Ramsey, a botanist of the London Natural History Museum specializing in recognition, who participated in the group of scientists who developed the application. "The application will help people recognize and explore Britain's fantastic diversity of trees by combining recognition technology with nice pictures and data folders. I also hope that it will inspire the world to go out, enjoy and appreciate the green spaces that exist in its area and possibly even deal with some of our other programs in the context of civil science ".