TransectWalkabout

When Allan Savory introduced the ideas of Holistic Management upon the cattle ranching community, several mthods for collecting data were formulated. TransectWalkabout is the first in the suite of apps built around the teachings of Allan Savory and the concepts of Holistic Management as applied to cattle ranching. For each established transect a walkabout is performed recording plants seen. The user first creates a data base of plant types, names and images, with images of 320x480 pixels and .jpg format. New plants may be added to the data base using images moved into the device via iTunes or by using the camera option.

When the app is then run again, the user enters the transect name and the names of observers, then selects Record Plants, Make Notes or Email observations. On the Record Plants screen the user selects from a category of plant, then on the list presented selects the appropriate plant and then presses Add to List to record the observation. For the Notes option, the user may record general observations, or include notes for plants not included in the typical and usual lists presented. The data are stored as a csv (Comma Separated Value) file or as a txt (Text) file and may be uploaded to Apple iWorks Numbers or Microsoft Excel using the File Sharing mode of iTunes, or included as an attachment to an email. The data area also stored as SQLite files to retain historic data and allow for a review of earlier observations.

Old records may be interrogated to find what was observed when and where, using fields of what(plant), where(transect) and when(year).