I'm pleased to announce that the version 5 desktop app is now live, with a refined user experience, Mac support and some great new features.
Many, many thanks for all of your help during the beta. We hope you're as pleased with the end result as we are. It's certainly been the most open, collaborative development process for us so far, with the initial beta being available very early on.
Please help us share the news!
Maps were just added to the Bird Journal 5 beta, and they're much improved.
Spiderifying
Many observations at the same point are no longer a problem thanks to "spiderfying" in Bird Journal 5 maps.
Satellite view
We've wanted a satellite view for a while. Now we have it.
Improved clustering
You can easily see how many items are in a cluster and the colour indicates this too. Hovering the mouse over the cluster shows the range covered. Clicking on a cluster zooms in to show the contained items.
Photo maps
Photos map looking much nicer with photos directly on the map!
We've also completed work on the library and settings screens:
If you've not tried the version 5 beta yet, you can download an install the beta from here. Follow us using Facebook or Twitter to stay tuned to Bird Journal developments - we post regularly on what's new.
We're busy with a number of things at the moment, and I thought it would be nice to give you a brief update on each.
Bird Journal 5
We've now released the early public beta for version 5. Feedback so far has been very positive - thank you, and keep us posted with your observations/suggestions.
In case you missed the opportunity to sign up, you can download an install the beta from here.
You can view the status of the beta in this document.
We'll be continuing work on this with an aim to completing it this year.
Renewals
We've finished work on our subscription renewals system. You can now view and update billing info from our website. Emails will be sent to remind you of upcoming renewals or expiry.
iOS App Update
With the recent updates from both Apple and ourselves a few stability/quality issues have crept into the iOS app. We'll be working on an update to address these starting next week, and hope to get it into your hands as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience.
We've had a lot of fantastic contributions to the Bird Journal library since my last update in November last year.
Here's a summary of items added since then:
- Birds of Australia (BARC IOC +ssp) - Checklist by Charles Ling
- Birds of British Columbia - Checklist by Alan Cairns
- Birds of Norway (IOC), Norwegian Names - Synonym Pack by Sindre Solberg
- Birds of Sweden (IOC), Swedish names - Synonym Pack by Roger Karlsson
- Birds of the UK, BTO 2-Letter Codes - Synonym Pack by Jonathan Davidson
- Birds of the UK, BTO 5-Letter Codes - Synonym Pack by Jonathan Davidson
- Butterflies of Australia - Taxonomy by Mike Jarvis
- Frogs of Australia - Taxonomy by Iian Denham
- Fungi of Europe - Taxonomy by Simon Booton-Mander
- Longhorn Beetles of the United Kingdom - Taxonomy by James Emerson
- Mammals of Australia - Taxonomy by Mike Jarvis
- Mammals Of Southern Africa - Taxonomy by Iian Denham
- Mammals of the Netherlands (excl Bats), Dutch names - Taxonomy by Peter de Hoog
- Mammals of the United Kingdom - Taxonomy by Colin Brodie
- Mammals of the Western Palearctic - Taxonomy by Sally Gordon
- Micro Moths of Norfolk, United Kingdom - Taxonomy by Ben Lewis
- Myriapods of the United Kingdom - Taxonomy by Colin Brodie
- Orchids of Europe, North Africa & the Middle East - Taxonomy by Sally Gordon
- Reptiles of Australia - Taxonomy by Mike Jarvis
- Woodlice & Allies of the United Kingdom - Taxonomy by Colin Brodie
A huge thanks to Bird Journal users Alan Cairns, Ben Lewis, Charles Ling, Colin Brodie, Iian Denham, James Emerson, Jonathan Davidson, Mike Jarvis, Peter de Hoog, Roger Karlsson, Sally Gordon, Simon Booton-Mander & Sindre Solberg for their contributions.
To get started with these, open the library by clicking the Library button/menu item. Then search for the item of interest and click/tap Install. It will then be available on all of your computers & devices.
If you've created a Taxonomy, Checklist or Synonym Pack that you think may be helpful to others, please consider publishing it to the library. We especially need non-bird taxonomies for the US.
To publish an item you have created, just enter some notes about the item and press Publish. We'll review it to make sure there are no duplicates and that naming is consistent, etc, then make it live. There are
guidelines with more detail on what we look for, and there is an
area on the forum dedicated to discussing the creation of library items.
We're pleased to announce that we've released an initial preview of Bird Journal 5 desktop software to our beta testers. Bird Journal 5 has a refreshing, modern look and works natively on Mac, Windows and also from our website.
Throughout July we'll be adding features and refining the experience so it's ready for public preview at the end of the month. It will ultimately replace the version 4 desktop software and of course there's no additional cost to use it* - you can switch when convenient.
* For version 4 users. Users on versions 1-3 will need either a free account or premium subscription.
The security of your data is a top concern for us and it's critical that sync works flawlessly for everyone.
To this end we've created a new service that continually verifies the ability to sync for all accounts. If problems occur we'll find out straight away and be able to resolve them quickly. In addition this means we'll be able to better identify and fix root cause of any issues.
This isn't something you, as a Bird Journal user, need to think about - other than to know we're pro-actively keeping Bird Journal running smoothly and keeping your records safe.
We're exhibiting at the Norfolk Bird & Wildlife Fair this weekend, 16th & 17th May, in the marquee at stand 20.
I'm also giving a lecture on Top Apps for Birding at 3:15 on the Saturday.
We hope to see you there!
We're conducting a brief survey to clarify priorities and pricing for Bird Journal and would appreciate your feedback.
As a thank you, we will send a free iPad Mini to one randomly-selected respondent who completes the survey in the next few days!
It's been two months since my last blog post, so it's high time for an update on what's been happening. In the last two months there have been:
5 updates released, addressing reliability on all supported platforms
7 items added to the Bird Journal library, including Frogs of Australia (Taxonomy by Iian Denham), Birds of British Columbia (Checklist by Alan Cairns) and Birds of the UK, BTO 2 and 5-Letter Codes (Synonym Packs by Jonathan Davidson)8 reviews in the Google Play store (all 5-stars)2 reviews in the press (BirdWatching magazine, Rare Bird Alert by Marcus Nash)18% growth in the number of accounts201,000 map views1,700,000 new observations stored73,000 new images stored