Since I bought my iPhone it has become more and more useful to me in the field (a use I never envisioned when I bought it). Below is a diagram of the many useful applications I use and how they can be used by a geologist in the field (click on the image to view it full size).
My Apps (Click to view full size)
All of the applications shown are freely available (although some are ‘trial’ or ‘lite’ versions of paid apps).
Disclaimer: If you break your iPhone in the field, drop it in a rockpool etc. it is totally not my fault ;)
Update: A quick google around indicates that I’m not the first to think of this. Does anyone else have any useful app suggestions?
Another Update (3/9/09): There’s been quite a bit of discussion of this elsewhere – here’s some links.
[...] combined with some conversations with Chris Town, and a recent post by Bob Jamieson about some iPhone applications he uses in the field, led to a bit of chat on Twitter about whether Apple’s latest object of geek worship might be [...]
I use my iPhone 3G regularly in the field in suburban and rural areas of Virginia, where cell reception is good. It is an excellent resource for locating myself within the high-res photo imagery provided in the Maps app. I also use it as a data-collection backup for my Trimble, when satellite reception is poor. I’ve tested the accuracy of the iPhone assisted GPS and it is +/- 5 m, as good as the Trimble for mapping purposes.
I use the “Drop a pin” feature of the Maps app to collect data points and send them to myself in an email along with geologic notes. I also use the app “Locations” to collect geotagged photos in a running list, them send them all at once to my desktop in an email.
Hi
We have been using Field Assets for the Iphone..It is a great field collection tool..
Thanks
Devin
We are releasing a whole suite of iPhone GIS apps with a geological slant. So far we have covered Arizona, California, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, with more to come (Colorado is next).
More information at our web site. We also have some videos of the apps in action.
Have you seen this App for the iPhone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0a_iui2Lyo
Looks pretty cool..
LN
Thanks for the cool annotated screenshot. (I totally agree about Evernote!)
I discuss a couple apps that I use in the field (and link to your article) from “iPhone Apps for Field Science.”
[...] The iPhone: A Field Tool for Geologists? Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Nat Friedman & the Personal Cloud: “Personal data warehouse”App Recommendation – EvernoteTakin’ Care of Business [...]
[...] of the more common productivity and measurement apps would of course be also of use to the working scientist. Other useful categories include [...]