Lead Inventor:
Peter Belhumeur, PhD
Electronic Versions of Field Guides Increase Information Access in Gardens and Museums
With modern hand held devices, users can access information through a web or pre-installed software interface, rather than carrying around a field guide. The invention of electronic versions of such field guides, along with interactive features such as picture recognition, can be used to increase convenience in finding information currently contained only in physical field guides.
Electronic Herbariumuses Software uses Vision Technology and Digital Cameras to Identify Plant Species
This technology is an electronic herbarium, consisting of software, algorithms, and a database including photographs and taxonomic information. It is a digital version of the Smithsonian's herbarium, which can be accessed remotely and used to taxonomically classify specimens found in the field. The software further uses computer vision technology in conjunction with digital cameras to determine specific plant species.
Applications:
• An online digital collection for flora currently housed at an arboretum, botanic garden, institute, or museum
• Its scope could be expanded to include fauna as well, and as such it could also be employed by zoos, aquariums, and other types of museums
• Extension of the algorithms and software to other online image databases with this sort of image recognition and classification.
o Examples might be a car enthusiast site that identifies classic or rare autos for the user based on a cell phone picture taken on the street
Advantages:
• The technology is a combination of an online, interactive database geared towards museums.
• This technology can be further developed for use on mobile devices, such as iPhone, BlackBerry, etc.
• Working Tablet PC, Ultra Mobile PC, and Augmented Reality-based prototypes can be further developed and evaluated
Patent Status: Patent Pending
Licensing Status: Available for Sponsored Research Support
Publications:
""First Steps Toward an Electronic Field Guide for Plants,"" Taxon, 55 (3) ~ August 2006: 597-610 2006. G. Agarwal, H. Ling, D. Jacobs, S. Shirdhonkar, W. Kress, R. Russell, P. Belhumeur, N. Dixit, S. Feiner, D. Mahajan, K. Sunkavalli, and S. White
