Archive for category: Flora Incognita

We get asked quite often of whether one can view the personal plant observations outside of the Flora Incognita app, for example in Google Maps or a Geographic Information System (GIS). The answer is simple: Yes, you can! In this article, you will find three tutorials for that – depending on your use case.

Exporting your data out of Flora Incognita

Regardless of the method you choose, first, you need to export your observations from the Flora Incognita app. To do that:

1) Open your observation list under My Observations from the home screen and tap on the Share icon at the top right.

2) You can now transfer either a .csv file or a .gpx file to your computer using various methods.

3) If you want to export your observations including the images, we recommend that you first filter the observation list to reduce the number of observations to be exported. The reason for this is the enormous increase in file size caused by the images.

Exporting Flora Incognita observations to Google Maps

With this method, you can view your findings in Google Maps on the desktop without requiring any additional software.

1. Go to https://www.google.com/intl/en/maps/about/mymaps/ and start a new project under Get Started.
2. Click on the Owned tab and select Create a New Map. You will get a blank map with its own context menu:
   
3. Under Untitled Layer, click on Import and choose the previously exported .csv file.
4. In the following menu, select the latitude and longitude columns. Click Continue.
5. Now choose how your data points should be labeled. Choose name for the common name or scientific name for the scientific name. Click Finish. Note: The points are now marked but the labels are not visible yet.
6. In the menu window, click on Uniform Style and choose the name you want to display under Label.
7. Under Base Map, you can customize the underlying map as desired:
   
8. Further individual adjustments are possible under the available menu options. Clicking on a data point will display the transferred meta-information.

Exporting Flora Incognita observations to QGIS

QGIS is a professional GIS application developed based on Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS). Choosing this option is useful if you work professionally or in your free time with GIS.

1. Open QGIS and create a new project (Project -> New).
2. In the left menu, select your map base layer under XYZ Tiles by double-clicking. In our example, we use OpenStreetMap. You can now zoom into the map.
3. In the main navigation, select Layer -> Add Layer -> Add Delimited Text Layer.
   
4. Choose your previously exported .csv file and check the extracted file format for the following parameters:
   • File format: CSV (comma separated values)
   • Geometry definition: X field: longitude; Y field: latitude
   • Geometry: EPSG:4326 – WGS 84

   Your data should look like this:
   

5. Click Add at the bottom right and close the window. Now you will see your discoveries in the map, but still without labels. Learning how to customize your findings is the next step.
6. Right-click on your Flora Incognita layer in the Layer panel to the left of the map. Select Properties.
7. Under Label change the setting from No Label to Single Label. Under Value you can choose whether you want to display the scientific or the trivial name. Confirm with OK. The result looks like this:
   

Exporting Flora Incognita observations with R

R is a free programming language for statistical calculations and graphics. To follow this guide, you need to execute prepared scripts using the appropriate software. Basic knowledge of R is required.

1. Go to https://www.r-project.org and install the latest version of the R program.
2. Go to https://posit.co/products/open-source/rstudio/ and install the latest RStudio.
3. Install and load the necessary libraries.
   
install.packages("leaflet")
install.packages("leaflet.extras2")
install.packages("htmlwidgets")


library(leaflet)
library(leaflet.extras2)
library(htmlwidgets)


4. Read your .csv file.
   
dat<-read.csv("/your/path/your_file.csv", header=TRUE)


5. Create and load the map. Closely located observations are clustered.
   
map1 %
addProviderTiles('OpenStreetMap.Mapnik') %>%
addCircleMarkers(lng = ~longitude, lat = ~latitude,
label = ~scientific.name, radius=7, labelOptions = labelOptions(style = list("color" = "black"),
noHide = T, textOnly=T, textsize = "10px", offset = c(1, 12)),
color="black", clusterOptions = markerClusterOptions(spiderfyOnMaxZoom=T))

map1


6. Add the plant findings to the map. To display the trivial name, replace “scientific.name” with “name”.
   
map2 %
addProviderTiles('OpenStreetMap.Mapnik') %>%
addLabelOnlyMarkers(lng = ~longitude, lat = ~latitude, group="labs",
label = ~scientific.name, labelOptions = labelOptions(style = list("color" = "black"),
noHide = T, textOnly=T, textsize = "10px", offset = c(1, 12))) %>%
addCircleMarkers(lng = ~longitude, lat = ~latitude, color="black") %>%
addCircleMarkers(lng = ~longitude, lat = ~latitude, radius=2, label = ~scientific.name, color="white")
addLabelgun(map2, group="labs")

map2


7. Export your map as an .html file
saveWidget(map2, file="/yourpath/map.html")
   

You can also download the guide as a text file: R_MapExport_EN

With our latest release of the Flora Incognita app, we are happy to give you two updates that many have asked for, in addition to numerous small bug fixes:

• an offline mode
• badges for 2023

An offline mode for Flora Incognita

Often, the most exciting plants grow where there is no internet coverage, or teachers want to use the app in an educational context, but the need for a mobile data connection makes this impossible. Now we have a solution for this: the offline mode. What does it do?

It allows you to record plants with the Flora Incognita app and save them as observations. However, you do not receive a plant name, but the observation is saved as “unknown herb or shrub”, “unknown tree”, etc. in your observation list. This also corresponds to the process that botanists would follow: What is not identified in the field is packed up and identified later. This is now also the case with the app. When you are back home (or somewhere with access to the internet), you can identify the unknown observations with a click and read the species fact sheets of the plants you have found – as usual.

By the way: Plants identified in offline mode also contribute to the worldwide monitoring of plant diversity – provided you have allowed Flora Incognita access to your location. In this case, the location of the plant is stored as meta-information at your observation.

Badges 2023

The introduction of the badges last year brought great joy to many users, and right in the first days of the new year we received many e-mails whether there will also be new badges for this year. Yes! They are now ready and waiting for you to collect them:

– Plant of the Year 2023: Collect the common self-heal (Prunella vulgaris)

– Tree of the Year 2023: Collect a brown birch (Betula pubescens)

– Poisonous Plant of the Year 2023: Collect parsley (Petroselinum crispum)

– Medicinal Plant of the Year 2023: Collect a vine (Vitis vinifera)

– Plant Society of the Year: Collect a representative of the Littorelletea uniflorae community

Have fun!

If you enjoy our app and plant identification, we would be very happy to receive a rating and a few kind words in the App Store. Thank you very much!