Release Notes for the Observer smart phone application

v. 1.53 March 31, 2013:

• Downloading all thumbnails for a plant list works on the latest version of Android (4.2.2).

v. 1.52 February 2, 2013:

• The 'all California plants' list is back! However, this list includes only current names, so if you prefer to use older names, you should define your own list. There is also a new function in Settings which will download the thumbnail photos of every plant currently in the application's database, if WiFi is available.

v. 1.5 December 10, 2012:

• The app works beautifully on a Nexus 7 -- the photos are finally big enough! The app also works well on a Galaxy Nexus. (Behavior is not guaranteed on other Android phones.)
• The big list 'All California Plants', is no longer included in the app. Instead, shorter, more targeted lists can be defined and loaded onto the phone as needed. When you first download a plant list to the phone, the first 75 thumbnails are loaded at the same time.

v. 1.23 February 7, 2012:

• The app now refuses to load a 'local' plant list if there is no location or an old location.
• HTC phones with the 2.1 sense operating system will only reliably take small format photos. If you try to take a large format photo and it fails, the app automatically switches to small format photos. There is a checkbox at the bottom of the Settings screen where you can choose between large and small format photos.

v. 1.22b January 8, 2012:

• When the app first starts up, it attempts to get an initial location. The app needs this location to effectively download the local plants plant list. To see if the app has found a location yet, go to the settings screen.
• Upload now works much more reliably.
• TJM2 names are now included, along with a few JM93 synonyms. (If you are defining your own plant list, you can use old scientific names or new scientific names.)
• HTC phones with the 2.1 sense operating system fail when the application tries to take a photo.

v. 1.00 May 6, 2011:

• Cosmetic changes and a new plant list. The GPS is always turned off when you leave the application (fixing a bug in the previous release).

v. 0.99e February 9, 2011:

• On the pick a new plant screen, there are two new filters: Native and Non-native. These filters can be combined with the lifeform filters. For instance, if you check Non-native, Annual, and Perennial, and then press the pick a plant from the list button, you will see all plants in the current list which are Non-native and either Annual or Perennial.

  Note that the filters also limit the plant names shown in the typeahead name field at the top of this screen.

v. 0.99d February 5, 2011:

• Earlier problems with observations loosing their locations have been resolved.
   
  On the Take a Photo screen, confirm that you want to make the observation by pressing OK. If you do not want to make the observation, press the back button.

  In this version, if you try to make an observation before the GPS location has been updated, you will see

  WARNING: location has not been updated during this session
   
  If you see this warning, the best thing to do is to press the back button, and wait a minute before making an observation. Otherwise, the location may not be reliable.

  If you try to make an observation and the GPS location has not been updated in the last few minutes, you will see

  WARNING: location has not been updated since [date and time]
   
  If you have not moved very much in the last few minutes, then just go ahead and press OK to make the observation. On the other hand, if you have moved, you might want to wait a minute for the GPS location to catch up before making the observation.
   
  
• On the Take a Photo screen, you can optionally specify the abundance / distribution of the plant (single plant, scattered dense patches etc.), and enter notes.
• On an HTC Eris phone, this application crashes when you try to take a photo. This has been the case since version 0.99a, when this application started using the built-in camera application to take photos. The HTC Eris also crashes with other applications that use the built-in camera application, such as ODC Data Kit.

v. 0.99b December 14, 2010:

• The take a photo function produces photos in the largest posible size.

• The application allows downloading only one plant list at a time.

v. 0.99a December 1, 2010:

• The take a photo function is no longer on the Make Observations screen, but is now in its own screen. The flow of events is like this:
  • On the Make Observations screen, make a new observation by pressing one of the buttons in the short list of plants (or the "unknown plant" button).

  • Next, the Take a Photo screen appears, which informs you that you have just made an observation. If you want to add a photo to this observation, press the take a photo button -- you will go to the built in camera application. (After taking a photo with the camera application, you will return to the Take a Photo screen, and the photo will appear.)

    If you do not want to take a photo (or after you have finished taking a photo), press OK to return to the Make Observations screen.

• Plants names in a defined plant list appear in alpha order by current name. For instance, in the defined list BAEDN Priority 2010, Acroptilon repens appears in alpha order instead of Centaurea repens.

• Uploading of observations and photos is now a proper background job. Once you start it, it will keep going until it uploads everything in the outgoing queue.