4.08.2011

Best iPhone + iPad Apps for Landscape Architects


Introduction.

In celebration of receiving my iPad soon, I put together a list of apps that may be useful for those of us in the landscape architecture field. I am sure this list will become outdated soon enough, but nonetheless, here it is! Please feel free to add to or comment on any of these apps! See part 2 here. 


Basics.

First at foremost, Dropbox is a must have. You can drag any file from any desktop, iPhone or iPad that has the software and access it from any other machine that also has the software.





Motion X GPS ($.99)
This is the app I use to record tracks and waypoints when I am in the field (mostly doing large scale vegetation analysis). If you want to take pictures with your iphone, this app will geotag them for you if you use the camera interface within the app. You can  email your waypoints, tracks or geotagged photos  to yourself and view them in google maps, google earth or ArcGIS. Doesn't quite replace a GPS unit, but has pretty good accuracy.










Botanical.


So if you studied landscape architecture, I don't need to explain this one. I use Dirr's DVD all the time at work, and now you can have it on your mobile apple device! Not nearly as awesome as Dr. Brahm's labs, but maybe one day there will be a Braham app, with stories and all.






Tree ID ($2.99)
A pretty good app for when you forget how many leaflets a pignut hickory has.









Contribute to invasive species mapping and use to ID invasives in the field. Participatory sensing!





Florafolio ($3.99)
A collection of our native flora.





Botany Buddy ($9.99)
Over 2,000 species. ID or choose plants.




Civil Engineering.

Water and Waste Management Engineer ($4.99)
I have not tried this one yet, but it has pretty much any calculator you need 







Quickly calculate runoff.








Drafting.




AutoCAD WS (free)
View, edit, annotate and share CAD files in the field. The best part is that you can view a google map aerial underneath your CAD linework (well, only if your drawing is georeferenced, which by now all CAD drawings should be, come on people!).





Drawing.

Can't wait to try this app on my iPad. Rates as one of the best apps out there.
.







Tutorials.



GIS and Mapping.

ESRI ArcGIS (free)
View data, collect data with your iPhone or iPad GPS, view attribute info. It's a start in a good direction. Geoprocessing to come.





Soil Web  (free)
Access real-time USDA-NRCS soil data in the field!





Miscellaneous.


Designnear- with a database of over 575 projects, find a cool design project near you!

Any Audubon apps!






7 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. See part 2 http://abioticdesignstudio.blogspot.com/2011/05/landscape-architecure-and-engineering.html

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  3. Some fantastic application given here , i will definitely give them a go.
    iPad Apps design

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  4. this is a great list! thank you for taking the time to put it all together!

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  5. We are so happy people are finding the list useful! Here's a link to an updated list http://abioticdesignstudio.blogspot.com/2011/05/landscape-architecure-and-engineering.html

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  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  7. I have no words to explain my feelings about your post
    Landscape Apps

    ReplyDelete