A new study by researchers in Galway has shown that some smartphone apps for identifying plants actually misidentify at least one in five species.
Researchers at University of Galway and University of Leeds found that apps should not be trusted to identify plants with 100% accuracy – a particularly important issue for toxic plants.
The team tested the ability of six common smartphone applications to identify 38 herbaceous plants native to Ireland. The highest performing app only had 80-88% accuracy.
The study also found that the apps showed considerable variation across plant species but they were better able to identify plants in photographs that included flowers than when photographs only included leaves.
The study was authored by Neil Campbell, who carried out the study while completing a Master’s degree at the University of Galway; Dr Karen Bacon, Lecturer in Plant Ecology at University of Galway; and Dr Julie Peacock, Associate Professor in Ecology at the University of Leeds.
It highlighted that, although apps can do a reasonably good job of identifying plants, they should not be considered to be providing 100% accurate identifications.
This is important for a variety of reasons, including when identifying toxic plants, identifying potentially problematic plants and in teaching.
