This summer my son & I attended the Stars at the Roughs at McKinney Roughs Nature Park for some star-gazing. As we were looking through the telescopes, a women next to me was holding her iPhone up against the night sky. On the iPhone’s screen was the night sky, with the constellations mapped out. The iPhone app, StarMap 3D (Sanville Software), allowed her to orient to the night sky based on her location. It was pretty amazing & having it on the iPhone allowed it to be really accessible.
Here are just a few of the other nature apps that I’ve come across or that other people have recommended to me:
I have a beloved Peterson Field Guide for Birds that is falling apart from use. An electronic version appeals to me because of the ease in carrying it about & durability. Birdwatcher’s might find some interesting features in iBird Explorer Pro. Features include bird calls & songs, ecological status, photos & illustrations of the birds (as well as links to Flickr photos), range maps, flight pattern
I also came across Chirp! Bird Songs USA that might work for people who are looking for something a little less detailed than IBird Explorer Pro, but that focuses on highlighting the songs.
There are geology apps Geology AZ (or Florida, or whatever state)– that contain geological maps from USGS, terrain elevation, hydrology, and geological formations among other features.
I even found an app that would allow me to create sketches for my nature journal: Autodesk’s SketchBook Mobile, or, if I decide to incorporate photos in my journal: Best Camera (Ubermind, Inc) & Snapture (Snapture Labs).
An outdoor activity that my son and I have really enjoyed is geo-caching. It should be no surprise that there is an app for that, Geocaching (Groundspeak, Inc). And for navigating on your hike, MotionX GPS (MotionX).
I think nature apps are great, but they have their place. They are meant to enhance, rather than replace, the nature experience. For me, it’s ultimately about unplugging. It was fun playing with the Star Map3D app for the iPhone, and it even helped me to find the constellations, but in the end, I enjoyed simply laying on our blanket & looking up at the stars-unplugged & in touch.
