Amanda, We have been pretty happy with Android tablets and the DroidDB database system for this purpose:
http://droiddb.syware.com/ You build a lot of complexity and functionality into a DroidDB database and, once built, you can deploy to more than one unit. We filter for species lists as well as strata in the plots. Most of the cases out there work well. I like the extra straps that Otterbox also sells ("Utility Series Latch II") because then you have a shoulder strap for the tablet, a hand strap, and a place to hold a portable backup battery in case you end of spending a long day in the field and the tablet needs more power. (I plug the tablet into the battery with a very short cord and nestle the battery between the elastic hand strap and the tablet). On a final note, if you need spatial data, we use the open-source Android App called Geopaparazzi. http://geopaparazzi.github.io/geopaparazzi/ If you need to see where you are or collect gps points (using only the tablet's gps at this point), this will do it. Best, Tim > -----Original Message----- > From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG- > [email protected]] On Behalf Of Amanda Goldberg > Sent: Thursday, February 04, 2016 5:22 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [ECOLOG-L] tablets in the field > > I know there have been a few previous messages about using Tablets in the > field but I was hoping to ask a few specifics. We are planning to use these > tablets primarily for collecting vegetation data (and maybe adding more uses > further down the line as we work out the kinks). This summer we would like > to enter all our daubemire percent cover data into the tablets while we are in > the field to minimize the amount of data entry we need to do when we > return every evening. Our sites contain quite a few plants so we need a pull > down tab or some other option to identify up to 100 plant species. My > questions are: > > 1) Is there an app that you would recommend we use to design a data sheet > on the tablet that would be easy to use for vegetation percent cover data > collections? One that will allow us to enter percent cover estimates for many > different plant species at multiple locations (we have 30, 1 meter squared > quadrats per site or 16 per plot within each site). We would prefer an open > access (free) app but we are willing to pay if it means a better format for > our > data collection. We would love to be able to export the data to a computer > each day and save or convert it to an excel format. > > 2) Any particular tablets that you recommend we use (or avoid)? We are > budget limited so we are looking for tablets that are certainly under > $400 each and preferably less than that. > > 3) Any particular covers/cases that you would recommend for the tablets. > We don't expect the tablets to get super wet or dirty but we work outside so > they are not completely safe from the elements. > > Any comments or suggestions on these 3 questions would be greatly > appreciated. Feel free to email be directly at: > [email protected] > > Thank you, > Amanda
