Hosta Smart Phone App

thisismelissa

11 years ago

I think I have my hubby convinced to write me a smart phone app to catalog my hosta collection.

I'm hoping it'll allow me to log eye counts and take photos while out in the garden.

I know it'll take a while for him to build the program, but maybe, just maybe, he can have it done by next spring?

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thisismelissa
Original Author

9 years ago

PLEASE DO ME A FAVOR: If you read this and intend to start using it, please CLICK LIKE. I enjoy knowing that work that I've done will be helpful to others considering the same app.

The app is called Encircle. It's available via PC (which is where I did most of my editing), but then there are apps for iOS and Android that allows you to access the cloud-based data.
The app is intended to be a home-inventory program for documenting possessions throughout your home, for insurance purposes. I have it set up so that each "room" is a pre-defined section of my garden. If you have an Excel spreadsheet that can be saved as a CSV, it can be imported into the program (done by their techs). So I had all my data (eye count, etc) saved... I just had to upload the photo(s) to each entry. Total time, maybe 3 hours.

Once I can get out into the garden, I'll be able to take the tablet out there to take pics, update eye counts, take notes, etc.

I was using a different app before, that wasn't cloud based, so I could only access the data on a single device. This multi-platform app will be FANTASTIC and I'll be able to access it from any computer anywhere since the computer access is via web browser.

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Comments (34)

i-like-to-grow
11 years ago
maybe he'll offer it for free... available from google play store for android...with pics and links to hosta library
John
hostahillbilly
11 years ago
I'd be happy if I could find a way to carry the .mdb (Micro$oft Acce$$ Database file) in my smartypants fone, and even better yet, even operate it, such as add, delete, change entries.

optimist,

hh
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Ohhh Mrs. Hooked . . . do I ever :) I have a touch of the OCD myself and two running lists. The first is my 'Wishlist'. This is what I refer to as a 'living document', it is always changing. I have the names of all the hosta that I do not own on this one. I then break those names into two lists . . . one for MUST HAVE . . . and the other for POTENTIALS. With the 'must haves' I list mail order vendors that offer it and over time try and compile orders with the same vendor if possible to save on shipping. This is of course after checking to make sure Chris isn't hiding one in the back somewhere. When these orders get placed varies greatly, but over all the 'must haves' are there for me to identify vendors and will definitely be in the garden at some point. The 'potentials' are ones that have caught my eye but never made it over to the 'must have' since I either like or own a very similar one, or I was in a fleeting mood that day for whatever coloration. It's funny because sometimes someone will show a beautiful picture of a certain hosta and I will be like OMG I have to have it . . . then I will revisit the list 5 days later . . . pull up the same hosta and be like . . . WTH . . . and it's culled. The second list I labeled my 'Database'. This is an excel spreadsheet that has all owned hosta listed alphabetically. I then add columns to include certain characteristics. Some examples: Name, Margin color, Leaf color, Originator, Rippled Edge, Red Petiole, etc. etc. I enjoy this system as it allows me to sort the data by any category I choose. For example, I could sort by Red Petiole first, followed by Blue Margin and the spreadsheet would show me how many I have that fit within those parameters. There is also the freedom to add a new category at any time if I so choose. It all comes down to what I want to organize them by and then assigning a value to each hosta. This all may sound a bit unnecessary and tedious, but I like to use it to see trends in my hosta. For example, when I was combing over my Hallson order for the 300th time I used this spreadsheet to show me all the different margin-leaf combos I already had . . . the data was such that almost 65% of my hosta acquired in 2012 were of a green margin white leaf coloration. This helped to NOT choose other look-a-like hosta with that coloration when ordering. As for my pictures . . . I won't lie . . . it was Myrle's beautiful orchestration that showed me how to feature a hosta. This can be done aesthetically or for documentation purposes. I upload all of the pictures to my external hard drive and file them in their respective folders. I further break down the file folders to show the year and month the picture was taken. Furthermore, each picture is individually labeled with the hosta name, date taken, and where acquired. This is in case for whatever reason I am up too late and start filing the wrong pictures in the wrong files. The label will always identify the picture accurately (kind of a safety net). I hope that in time I can see which hosta I am taking pictures of more and how often. This also lets me keep an accurate time line of growth, acquisition, and performance. With allllll of this said . . . the extraneous detail only serves to satisfy my personality. I am NOT a perfectionist but I hate not having things in order. Everyone has their own way of doing things and to each their own if it gets the job done. :) Truth be told I am sort of scared to see how this personality trait of mine panes out in the garden. I don't want organization in my garden like I do with my information. This being the first 'real' garden I have to play in, I want it to look natural versus organized. But I know in the end I am going to get stuck on that 'perfect' spot and none of my hosta may ever be in a permanent home. Only time will tell I suppose. Hahaaa . . . listen to me ramble on as usual . . . I am too long winded. But yes . . . to shortly answer your question . . . I too use a controlled list. Ludi
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in ny zone5
11 years ago
Amazing that you people actually can read the print on such small screens, sometimes in sun. Then you need to clean your fingers after occasional weeding to touch the screen... Good luck and have fun! Bernd
paws4pets
11 years ago
hostahillbilly...would Thinkfree office work on your phone?. Not sure if it reads .mdb files
paws
hostahillbilly
11 years ago
paws4pets,

Yo, great suggestion. I, using your suggestion, went searching.

Turns out that, as so often, ur suggestion about app 'ThinkFree' doesn't, as all to often, support DB (DataBase) programs or functions.

However!, it lead me to find other apps that do, and I'll be further researching them, so thanks for sending me on the journey to being able to continue documenting our gardens by merely yanking my smartypants fone offa my belt when I dig out a bad plant to a 'rescue' pot, change a plant in bed 'x', and so forth.

You led me down a new discovery path, thank you!

hh
Steve Massachusetts
11 years ago
You are going to have to change your name to Hi-tekHostaHillBilly. Then you could be triple H.

Steve
User
11 years ago
Okay, so what would work with an Android smarty phone OR the Android tablet?

I've used my ASUS TF201 camera out in the garden because it has a 5mp camera, and I can upload from the camera directly to Flickr...or I suppose to Photobucket as the case may be...but as far as indexing and keeping track of things, I haven't a clue what DB to use. Now, I am sending my ASUS in for repair since it overheated at the power adaptor and inside the power-on button near the battery I THINK. I'm not that good with Android, but am familiar with Windows.

Currently my hosta records are kept on the Windows 7 computer and a smart drive in the AZZ Cardfile software, which I've used for years. However, I had a glitch occur and for some reason it did not let me update as I'M NOT ADMINISTRATOR OF MY OWN PERSONAL COMPUTER. And THAT, my friends is a witch when it happens. I have to open it and run as administrator, another witchy thing. I'm thinking of renaming my computer HAL.

I also had a hard time with the computer telling me I was "out of memory" and I have 8GB of memory on the computer, but it was because of the big pictures. The last time I got into the gardening database, I went through card by card and reduced every image to a very small size. Not thumbnail, but not much bigger than that. The software designer helped me through it all, did not realize that changing MY name when I got married was what told my computer that I was not authorized to save changes to the garden files, it had to see my marriage license!!! Crazy machine....so the software developer (in Europe somewhere) gave me a new license with the new name on it, and I'm back in business, just being very cautious from now on. Do you realize what a LOSS it would be should this information be inaccessible? What a revolting development!!
hostahillbilly
11 years ago
moc, et. al.,

Memento and HanDBase were the two smarty-pants fone and tablet type database apps that have my interest.

One of them has an 'add-on' (for $) that claims to be able to both import and export to M$ Acce$$ .mdb format.

It will probably going into winter before I take the time and money to investigate further.

Perhaps there's a 'flat-file' DB app out there, and it would be faster, simpler, and mostly do the job.

However, my current DB uses several 'relational' features, and since I don't want to try to keep up two DB's, I looked only at DB's that claimed relational capabilities, and the ability to 'sync' with other copies of said DB.

fwiw,

hh
User
11 years ago
I think it is close to winter time and time to get HH back on duty here. And Melissa, where are you honey?

And AlmostHooked and McTavish, and Berndny and Ludi, all the Hosta Nerds. Quick, do something before spring gets here!
in ny zone5
11 years ago
Moccasin, since you mention my name, we have no Smart phones, only use basic Tracphones. We have our data in PCs, can not see small pictures.
Though I am looking forward to take more and better pictures this year. Bernd
User
11 years ago
Bernd, excusez moi, I believe it was Babka....a different B.

My ASUS TF201 tablet has a pretty good camera, and if I take a good picture and I'm close enough to our wi-fi connection, I can upload it within a few seconds to Flickr.

It leaves off the date, which I want to appear. And Flickr resizes pictures. But nothing is too small to view. I'll have to try it again, now that the overheating problem is corrected.
hostanista
11 years ago
Oh great. Now in addition to hostas, I have to go out and buy a SmartPhone. Thanks a lot, techies! ;)

{{!gwi}}
thisismelissa
Original Author
11 years ago
Hey y'all....
I don't frequent the forum in the winter, as that has become my outlet for my other hobby... pottery.

I have, however, been doing more work on the Smart Phone issue. Hubby was too challenged by the notion, so I've moved on to another avenue and may have something exciting to report on that front very soon. Stay tuned!
User
11 years ago
Oh, great to hear from you in the winter, Melissa. Take your time--we'll be here. :)

Happy New Year!
almosthooked zone5
11 years ago
thisismelisa.. Show us some of your pottery! I am a pottery freak and have had to stop buying so much as I don't have any more room for it(almost stopped)
Mocc.. I have a Iphone given to us last year for Christmas from my middle daughter but I never bothered getting a new card. We use it in the USA when travelling and I buy time as it is an open phone. I can still take pictures but never bother using it. I figure if someone needs to get hold of us they can wait until I get home or call the cops. Had enough phones when we had our own business and rang at all hours. And as far as anything for pictures all we could show you right now is snow and more snow. I am sick of that white stuff!
thisismelissa
Original Author
9 years ago
Anybody following this thread? This is the first I've logged in since Houzz took over. Whoa, what a surprise! Anyway, Guess what? I have an app! Hubby didn't have to write it! I found it. It works great and it houses the info in the cloud so data is available via computer, android or iOS app. Loving it so far!
sunnywood4bChazyNY
9 years ago
So whatis the name of the app?
bkay2000
9 years ago
HI Melissa, Good to hear from you.

bk
User
9 years ago
Hi Melissa! Please tell me the app. I have Android, but there is an iPad iPhone only app that I am tempted to cross to the Apple side to get. If Verizon had not solved my no-Bluetooth problem yesterday, I'd be switched today. My next tablet or pad will be an iPad you can bet. Should Windows not get its act together, perhaps Apple laptop as well

So bring on that app!
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
9 years ago
I was a PC girl for years, then became a Mac girl and I'm not just talkin' make-up! LOL
Wendys_garden
9 years ago
Hi Melissa! That app sounds great, would love to know where you found it, thanks!
smorz
9 years ago
Any android would have access to goggle cloud. The app, Google sheets is a free spreadsheet app. It also allows you to open and edit excel. My teenager says even businesses are getting away from Microsoft office as we know it, and going towards this type of format that you can access, print, share, send, and save from any of your devices. Makes sense... I might as well work on getting proficient with it.
hostasmith
9 years ago
I found an Android app that seems like it would work, Memento Database. I have been playing around with creating a list for it. If you are just wanting to log basic data it is easy to set up. It also seems to have the ability to get very technical. http://mementodatabase.com/
User
9 years ago
Melissa how did I miss your post, I must take a look at it. Yes, I'll LIKE it now and expand on it later. Also Smith, thanks for the Android link. Good to know I can perhaps put it on my Kindle FIRE which has a camera, from whence I move the pics to my PC and also add tags and put photos on my Flickr account.
thisismelissa
Original Author
9 years ago
Mocc... Good to see you! I'm finding the app super easy to use. Since your plants are probably already coming out of hybernation, I'd be interested to know how you like Encircle when actually using it "in the field". I love that its cloud-based, so the same data is available from any device I use. I could use my computer in the house, or our android tablet, iPad, iPod or either of our phones. LOVE THAT!!!
User
9 years ago
Ahhhh, this is the SECOND reason I may have to get an iPhone next time. Melissa, you sure are making a tempting case for one. Incidentally, tell me your experience with it re the cloud. Must it be their cloud, or from a list, or will any ole cloud do? Clouds come and go, don't want to have one rain on my parade. Lose my photos again.
User
9 years ago
H. 'Smith' (you note my humor with your new name?) I will take a closer look at the Memento Database. On GooglePlay, it had a confusing presentation, haven't evaluated it for my needs.

Melissa, a good number of my hosta are wide awake. Then I have some new arrivals that are waking up too. Cloud based issues, I wonder if users of Encircle can post a picture to Houzz/GWeb as if it were on your own computer? I hate to think of losing all the tags (key descriptors) entered in other programs on my PC and on Flickr, with a new database. I keep each photo with its unique name in folders by date (month). Interesting to see where Encircle ..or how...it organizes its database, its style. I'm not a programmer type. Just an old librarian type. Structured hierarchical and all that stuff, which gets bogged down a lot. Love a quick processor to deal with that.
hostasmith
9 years ago
Mocc, if you are interested in trying the android app I will refine what I was playing with and publish it through the app and post a link to it. I have had the name hostasmith since last year and have aquired the domain and emails for it for posible future use.
User
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
A note here. I was just thinking about the way they can do random FACE RECOGNITION via computers these days.

Now, wouldn't it be just wonderful if they could adapt this to HOSTA LEAF RECOGNITION?
Don't laugh too quickly, it could happen if someone decided to work on it. It is after all a matter of PATTERN RECOGNITION?

And another little tidbit of information related to nothing in particular, except it stuck in my mind the first time I heard about it 40 years ago.....Did you know that during WWII the USA hired or assigned mostly WOMEN to analyzing camouflaged fortifications and such as that, because IN GENERAL women were better (significantly so, as I was told) at PATTERN RECOGNITION than men? It could be put to a test related to hosta. For instance, do you think that men or women would win a contest of recognizing hosta from their patterns? :)

Give me some app that could do like the OCR scanner on my phone with hosta leaves, and I'd love for it to identify all my NOIDS.
User
9 years ago
We posted same time there. Don't mean to hog the thread. Don't go to special troubles on my account, because my plate is so full this spring that I have no spare corner of my MIND that is rested enough to absorb anything new. I'll try to keep my bookmarks current though, to review later this summer.
thisismelissa
Original Author
9 years ago
Mocc... if you have an android phone, Encircle will work on that, so you wouldn't have to get an iOS device.

Yes, it's their cloud. No, you cannot post from there as if it was your own hard drive.

If you want to be able to do that, you'd want to take your pics outside the app, then upload the pic from the device or from a hard drive. If you photograph the hosta from inside the app, it will go straight to their cloud without being saved to your own computer.
User
9 years ago
Yikes...
" If you photograph the hosta from inside the app, it will go straight to their cloud without being saved to your own computer."
So, I can take a pic using the app. Is the file type that I download or access compatible with android as well as Windows and Apple devices? Interesting bit of work.
I do not want to sign in using Facebook or any other social snooping service, will it allow that?
thisismelissa
Original Author
9 years ago
I don't sign in with a social networking account, so that's not an issue. You set up a logon based on your email addy.
If you take a pic with the app, it goes straight to the cloud, so there's no way to know what type of file they're turning it into, since you cannot download from the app to your device. There's not a compatibility issue as the file viewing is all done inside the app or on your browser. You do not download the pic once it's in their cloud. You can delete it, but not download it. It's a simple thought.... if you put it in Encircle, it stays in Encircle until deleted. So, when you photograph from inside Encircle, it does not save to your hard drive or device first. It has its own camera utility.

If you UPLOAD from your device to the cloud, you can use any typical photo format.

Hosta Smart Phone App

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