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idIt Support Page
   

 

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

How do you get started?

Usage directions are included on the App Store's app page here , but they are included here for convience:

Library
The current version (1.1) is provided without any sounds. The user adds sounds whenever they want by clicking on Library>New to start the acquisition process. The acquisition process is completed when the user clicks on the "Done" button. The user can then add an image (or leaves the "?" as a default) and then clicks on the text line (typically "BirdXX") to name the bird. After text entry, the information is added to the "Library" when the "Add" button is clicked.

IDentify
Once a "Library" is created, clicking on "iDentify" starts the identification process, i.e. collecting a sound sample and comparing the new sample with the existing Library.

Note: the "New" sound is collected until the screen is touched.

Once the screen is touched, the "Library" is listed in order of "closeness", i.e. a "green" dot means the named bird closely matches the "New" sound, a "yellow" dot means the named bird is not a good match to the "New" sound and a "red" dot means forget about it.

Can you show a demo?

Note: may take a while to start... please be patient (I'm working on a fix)

What makes a "good" quality sound?

The sound must be strong enough to hear it and must be long enough to include the sound inflections and variations that make the sound unique to the bird. Signal strength is indicated by large signal variations on the iPhone display during sound aquisition. See the "screen capture" images on the app page.

How long should a "Library" sound be?

The short answer is "less than 15seconds."

The long answer is long enough to include all the particular birds' sound inflections. The app was tested using sounds of from 8 to 12 seconds.

How accurate is the app in identifying the correct bird?

The correct identification is wholly based on the quality of the "Library." If the quality of the sounds in the "Library" are very good and the quality of the "New" sound is very good, testing has shown the app will identify the correct bird with a high degree of accuracy.

Within the margins of the measurement scheme, i.e. "Very Close (green)", "Not So Close (yellow)" and "Far (red)", the app may assign multiple birds within each catagory. Note that the listing is sorted within each category, so that the first bird listed is the "closest."

Why isn't there a library included?

First some technical information:
The "Library" consists of the following files:
One masterLib.brds(an ANSCII text file) - containing a list of the bird names separated by carrage returns
for each bird in the masterLib.brds:
bird_name.png - a 250x250pixel jpg image
bird_name.wav - a wav file of the birds captured sound

Note: bird_name is the text string from the masterLib.brds file with any spaces removed.

To eliminate any issues with regard to intellectual property rights, it was decided not to include any image or sound files.

How do you include bird images?

After a sound has been aquired, the app provides a default bird image of a "?". To replace that image, click on "Pix". At that time, you can navigate to the image library within your iPhone and select any image you want.

Can you replace bird images?

You can replace any image by selecting the bird on the first screen. The app will then display the image and play the birds "Library" sound.
Note: you can adjust the volume by moving the slider
By clicking on the image, the app will allow you to navigate to your iphon's image library and you can replace the original image with any image in your iPhone's image library.

Can you replace bird sounds?

You can delete a bird from the "Library" and replace it with a new one. Click on "Library" and the click on the "-" adjacent to the bird you desire to remove. Then click on the "Delete" button to actually remove the bird from the "Library".

Are there restrictions on naming birds?

Spaces can be used, but do NOT include apostrophes or any other character inflections.

Can the app be used for anything else?

The app can be used to identify train whistles.

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