Calflora Observer Pro vs KnowKi

Use Calflora Observer Pro to record observations of wild plants in California using your phone or tablet and then upload them to the Calflora.org website. Observations can include photos, GPS coordinates, notes, and other information. Be sure to touch the Calflora logo on any screen for essential tips on getting started. Visit http://calflora.org/phone/pro for more detailed information. We're eager to hear about any issues or other comments you have, by sending them to phone@calflora.org.

Get to know the living beings around you by name. KnowKi teaches you the species that people see regularly near a place you choose, with real photos, short practice, and a path that builds day by day. Botanist and writer Robin Wall Kimmerer suggests ki (say "key") for any living being of the Earth, in place of "it": a bird, a tree, a snail is someone, not something. Together they are kin, in place of "them." KnowKi helps you get to know the more-than-human beings around you, until you can recognize kin in the wild with no key. Your guide is Āki, a kiwi from Aotearoa New Zealand whose name, in te reo Māori, means to encourage and urge on. A PATH OF SIX SPECIES AT A TIME Pick a place and a group: birds, mammals, plants, insects, arachnids, herps (reptiles and amphibians), fish, crustaceans, sea slugs, or other mollusks. Groups appear where they live, so sea slugs show up on the coast, not in the desert. Each unit introduces six species: meet them, match each one to a new photo, practice with ten photos and four choices, then pass a checkpoint to open the next six. REAL SIGHTINGS FROM REAL PLACES Lessons use research-grade iNaturalist observations recorded near your place, most commonly seen first. Native species lead the way; each chapter ends with an optional unit of introduced species, the ones people brought here. Protected species are included too, with their conservation status, and their locations always stay hidden. Every photo is credited to the naturalist who took it. PRACTICE THAT STICKS Missed species come back next time, and correct answers return over the following days. Recall cards ask you to type or say a name from the photo alone. A species becomes kin once you recognize it in two different photos on two different days. PLAY The Daily: five species a day, easy to hard, in three editions: your neighborhood, your country, and the world. Share your score without spoilers. Quirky Quizzes test what wild neighbors leave behind: eggs, nests, bones, tracks, feathers, and scat. YOUR FIELDBOOK Every species you've met, with a short introduction from Wikipedia, a map of where it's found, and your progress. Filter by group, favorites, introduced or protected species, and earn milestones along the way. TRIPS Learn the kin of any country, every U.S. national park, marine sanctuaries, or the most biodiverse places for life on Earth. GO MEET YOUR KIN Once you have 10 kin, KnowKi shows which are out and about near you this month, with a monthly Field Bingo card. Photograph what you find and share it on iNaturalist; connect your iNaturalist username to stamp each species you've found. Know a species well? Help identify other people's observations of it. A HOME-SCREEN WIDGET Your trail, today's goal, and your Daily score, with Āki under a sky that follows the time of day. PLAY WITH FRIENDS Sign in, turn on Friends, pick a nature name, and send your invite link. See each other's kin, trails, milestones, and Daily scores (a friend's score shows once you've played that Daily too). Species and places are never shared. YOURS, ON EVERY DEVICE No account needed. If you like, sign in with Apple to keep one Fieldbook on your iPhone and at knowki.app; KnowKi never asks for your name or email. No ads, no analytics SDKs, and no tracking. Optional soundscapes and gentle reminders. Lessons need an internet connection. Photos and observations come from iNaturalist contributors under Creative Commons licenses; species introductions are excerpts from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).