Count Circle

Stevens Creek Software has just introduced Count Circle, a new birding app with a simple but interesting premise of showing the boundaries of established or potential Christmas Bird Count circles on an iOS (Apple mobile) device.  If the device also has GPS (such as an iPhone), you can see where you are relative to a circle in real time, something I know I could have used in the past when wandering near the edges of a count, especially one new to me.  

Instead of wasting time with a Gazetteer and trying to triangulate landmarks, intersections, etc. I could just peek on the screen to see if I was still inbounds.  The app also looks great for scouting, especially when switching from the map to the satellite view which gives away habitat changes, fence lines, and back roads or even trails beyond the cutoff of "normal" mappability. If the count is already in the National Audubon database you can just pull it up from the state-by-state menu. If you notice the center is off (Audubon's database is only as good as the submitted circle coordinates, often estimated from old maps), then you can drag the center to what you deem is the correct place.

Additionally, you can choose your own center (if, for example you are contemplating a new count circle and would like to experiment with boundary possibilities) and it will scribe the 7.5 mile radius for you.  You can also set a different radius for different purposes.  For example, maybe I'd like to do a local patch big year within 1 km from my house- the app allows for that.   Anyway, for $2.99 looks like a neat tool to add to the mobile-tech birding arsenal.  

Looking under the listings for Colorado, I can find the count I compile (Boulder.)

 

 

Pulling it up, I can see the overview of the whole count circle.

 

 

I can also zoom way in.  For example, I can see that most of Allens Lake / Lake of the Pines near the north side of the circle is inbounds, though the north shore isn't.

 

 

Maybe I'd like to see what a count circle centered on Hayden Lake would look like.

 

 

I just drag cross hairs to where I'd like my center to be and it will drop a pin there.

 

 

I can look at the big picture and re-adjust my center as desired.

 

 

Or I can zoom to more detail, in this case noting that if I'm heading up Highway 35, the circle ends just past the unnamed pond, right the road bends northward to cross the river.

Here's their press release:

Cupertino, California, January 22, 2013 – Stevens Creek Software, whose popular Birdwatcher's Diary app is used by birders to record and report their sightings, has released its latest iOS app – Count Circle. Count Circle contains the complete National Audubon Society (NAS) database of Christmas Bird Count (CBC) circles, with a total of 2429 different count circles in 72 different states and territories including Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, South America, and Antarctica. Using Count Circle birders can lookup and display any count circle on an interactive map, and find out exactly what is (and is not) included in the circle. Units which have GPS capability also display the user's current location, so that during a count they can determine precisely whether they are inside or outside the circle.   Although the app was released too late for this year's round of Christmas Bird Counts (which were the genesis of the idea for the app), it came just in time for the latest "Patch Challenge" being held in Texas, in which birders see how many species they can find in a 7.5-mile radius circle centered on their own home. Count Circle not only lets users create and save their own circles, it also lets them set a different radius (in miles or kilometers) should they wish to do "Patch Challenges" with more limited (or wider!) geographical scope.   Much of the data describing the locations of the circles in the NAS database seem to have been obtained before the widespread availability of GPS devices, and do not accurately reflect the correct center of the circles that are being surveyed. Count Circle lets count organizers relocate their circles, both to obtain accurate values for the centers currently being used, and to experiment with minor shifts in the center which might allow key bird areas to fall within the circle. The software even allows organizers to report such changes directly to NAS.   Christmas Bird Counts, along with the Breeding Bird Survey series that occurs in the late spring, are a key scientific tool in understanding bird populations and migration. Count Circle is designed as a tool not only to make those surveys more accurate, but also to encourage more birders to participate in them. Stevens Creek Software's other birding app, Birdwatcher's Diary, has already proven invaluable during CBCs in making the process of recording counts quick and accurate. The overwhelming response to the initial release of Count Circle suggests that it will become another valuable tool in the birder's software toolbox.    Pricing and Availability: The Stevens Creek Software web site, provides full information on all of Count Circle's features.  The app runs on all iOS devices 4.3 or later, is available for $2.99 (USD) and is priced accordingly in other regions.

 

Comments

[Nate Dias]

Much of that functionality has been available (for free) for some time at:

http://www.freemaptools.com/radius-around-point.htm

That is what a lot of CBC compilers I know have been using...

[Rick Hollis]

The NAS data base has error. Our count center is of by 1.65 miles.

[Bill Schmoker]

Great tip, Nate!

I previously posted on Google Mapping a count circle:  http://blog.aba.org/2011/12/google-earth-google-map-your-christmas-count-circle.html

All are good, I think the nicest part of this new app is the simplicity, as it is pretty much ready to go out of the box.

Thanks again- Bill

[Chas Swift]

Only available on iOS :(

It is true that many count circles centers seem to be inaccurate based on what Audubon is showing. We are finding this in Idaho even for more recently created CBC's. The inaccuracies seem to be greater than one would expect simply from mapping centers on paper maps (although this could be part of the problem).

[Bill Schmoker]

Hi Chas, indeed, would be nice to get Android etc. versions out there.

NAS put the word out a few years ago if my recollection is correct, hoping that folks would provide them with updated count center coordinates so never too late to address this. 

Thanks for your comment- Bill

[Bill Schmoker]

Hi Rick, it doesn't surprise me to hear that the center of your count is off. NAS is seeking to correct inaccurate count center coordinates. The Count Circle app has a reporting function (directions for reporting updated center coordinates are found by pushing the i (information) button. Otherwise, you can hover or drop a pin over the known count circle in Google Earth, jot down the lat/long, and use that to report the updated center to NAS via the compiler's page.

Thanks for the comment! -Bill

[Chas Swift]

Thanks Bill, I'm the Idaho CBC editor & don't recall any contact from NAS on this but we will be working on getting count circles corrected (after current the current round of data entry & review is done!). I've had a number of comments from Idaho birders for the first time this past CBC season. With eBird and greater location awareness thanks to smartphones (which is great!) this is really coming to the fore. In some cases only the compiler really knows the actual count center! thanks, Charles.

[Bill Schmoker]

Hi again Chas- found this about entering or correcting count circle Lat/Long:  http://birds.audubon.org/how-report-your-cbc-circle-latitude-and-longitude-audubon

Best- Bill

[Chas Swift]

Great - thanks Bill. We will definitely get these fixed later this year. And I'll share this app. w/ our birders. (I've been thinking about doing an area big year that encompasses a multi-state area, apps. like this will be very helpful in such endeavors.)

[Steve Patt]

For anyone with corrected information, you should obviously first notify NAS, but we would also encourage you to send us the same updated coordinates (send to birdwatcher at stevenscreek dot com). We've already had a number of corrections, and we'll be updating the app periodically so that the most accurate coordinates are always embedded in the app.

And to Chas above, although up 'til now we've done only iOS apps, we're just starting to "fiddle" with the possibility of adding Android versions as well. No promises, but it is now "on our screen" whereas before it wasn't.

Steve Patt
President, Stevens Creek Software
Developer of Count Circle (and of Birdwatcher's Diary)

[Bill Schmoker]

Thanks for the great update, Steve!  And thanks for keeping our Android users in mind.

[Tim in Albion]

OK, my pet peeve: "The app runs on all iOS devices..." Well, maybe it _runs,_ but if it relies on GPS, it won't WORK on an iPod Touch, which does not have GPS. I continue to have difficulty with BirdsEye BirdLog for this reason. (It was working for a while, using the WiFi feature, but lately it has gone back to demanding a GPS signal.)

As far as I can tell, almost nobody takes care to make sure these apps actually work properly on an iPod without GPS, probably because nearly everybody is using them on iPhones or iPads. I just wish the developers (and writers) would be a little more careful to note that these GPS-dependent apps WILL NOT WORK on the Touch, or any other iOS device without a GPS.

[joseph moss]

The circle generator does not seem to be working. It returns a page telling me to go back and enter the numbers, again. Even with the default numbers that page starts with...

[Steve Patt]

Tim, Count Circle does NOT rely on GPS at all. It DOES require internet connectivity (WiFi or cellular) because without that, it (or any other application that displays a map) can't pull the map down from the Apple (or Google) map server, so you would see a circle on a blank screen (not too useful). But given internet connectivity, the ONLY feature of the app that uses GPS is the display of the "blue dot," which shows where YOU are compared to the circle, so on count day you can know if you are approaching (or passing) the circle boundary. But other than that, all other functionality is present on the iPod Touch.

By the way, our Birdwatcher's Diary software ALSO works just fine without GPS. Of course it doesn't record the precise lat/long of each sighting, as it would if run on a unit with GPS, but other than that, all of its functionality is also present on any unit.