Science, Tech & Environment  An app that identifies trees
Screenshot of the LeafSnap app (Image from LeafSnap app download
page in iTunes)  Story from Living on Earth. Use audio player
above to listen to full report.  Player utilities  Listen to the
Story.  The LeafSnap iPhone app, which took eight years to
develop, features a 10,000-image database which allows users to
identify different species of trees by taking pictures of leaves
and uploading them. The leaves in the pictures are segmented
into basic shapes, compared to existing images in the database,
then matched with a specific three. The database currently
features 200 species primarily from Central Park in New York
City, and Rock Creek Park in Washington D.C.  John Kress, the
Chief Botanist at the Smithsonian Institution, helped develop
the app. Kress says leaves are the best method for identifying
trees because they're two dimensional, which makes them easier
to work with than flowers or fruits, which are three
dimentional. Also, leaves have a lot