POCKET PC ADD-ON

• Serious birders want to keep track of the particular circumstances in which a sighting is obtained. Also, for trips outside their usual birding territory they frequently must document a bird's field marks for later analysis to be sure they have properly identified it. Thus they need to include notes with many or most of their sightings. But words are entered in Palm devices by writing their letters with a stylus on a region of the screen which is so small that they must be written one letter at a time. And they must be written very carefully in particular ways that for many letters are quite different from the ways they are normally written -- which is why they are known as graffiti. This is difficult, time consuming, error prone, and therefore very distracting.
  

However the situation has changed completely with the recent introduction of equally miniature, and not very expensive, devices based on the Microsoft Pocket PC (also called Windows Mobile) operating system. They are rapidly becoming more popular than the older Palm devices because they are much more powerful and yet easy to operate since their operating procedures are quite similar to the familiar procedures used in a Windows computer. And they remove the problem described above because with a Pocket PC a sighting note spoken into its built-in microphone is recorded on its memory chip and automatically attached to the sighting being entered.

We have developed add-on software which puts in a Pocket PC word processor file any of the BirdBase "short lists." These list the species and their families to be seen in one of the hundreds of  BirdBase world areas, and are produced by BirdArea. People who do not have BirdArea can use the North American and Hawaiian short list supplied with the BirdBase world list or can produce short lists by using the Specify species on short list option that is built into BirdBase (and into LepiList, which can also use the add-on). The word processor, Pocket Word, is a much simplified version of Microsoft Word or the word processor in Microsoft Works, the ones most widely used in computers. The word processor file lists the common and scientific names of each species and family, and labels species already seen.

To enter a sighting while in the field, the user finds the species' line in the list by applying Pocket Word's find facility to its common or scientific name, or else by scrolling thru the list. Then several taps of a stylus insert a number followed by a semicolon in the next line. The number, which identifies the location, general circumstances, and date of the sighting, can be as large as 999 -- large enough for a birding trip lasting several years! If the sighting needs a note to describe particular circumstances and/or field marks the letter n is tapped after the identifying number and then the user records the note by speaking into the Pocket PC microphone. The microphone is also used to record the location, general circumstances, and date corresponding to each identifying number before entering the sightings for that number.

On returning from the field, the user copies the file from the Pocket PC to the home computer then opens it in the add-on software. For each identifying number, the user listens to the recorded information with Microsoft Word or Microsoft Works or the Pocket PC and puts it in the software at a window that looks quite like the fifth figure in our Birding software demonstration. The software then automatically enters in BirdBase all sightings for that identifying number. When it comes to a sighting with a note it advises the user who, with two mouse clicks or stylus taps, listens to the note then types it (or an edited version) on the computer keyboard at a window similar to the seventh figure. The software then enters the note in BirdBase. If the user wants to hear a note again while typing it takes only one click or tap. Sighting notes are entered by the user with a keyboard while relaxed at home, not with Palm graffiti while under pressure in the field.

After installing the Pocket PC Add-On in the BIRDS folder for use with BirdBase, you can install it in the MAMMALS folder for use with the Mammal Data Add-On, and then in the LEPIS folder for use with LepiList. Furthermore, since a Pocket PC has room for many lists, you can take it to some location while holding lists of the birds, the mammals, and the butterflies which might be seen in that location and then enter sightings in all three. Switching from one list to another can be done with only two stylus taps.

For computer system requirements for running the Pocket PC Data Add-On, click here:
System requirements 

Click the link below for price and ordering information.
Price list