PlantWatch Soracom Cellular IOT

Hello Im Raymond and this is about my entry for Soracom_Ceullariot Challenge.

This project has been an adventure. It started off with a general idea of wanting to make a product that would combine Cellular IOT with something involving species and the issue of invasiveness. The projected finally pivoted to a building an app that is like a pokedex for plants with the capability to report and discover invasive species. Probably will add leveling skills in this.

I’ve had a great time learning about organizations like the IUCN and other interesting platforms and products that already exist. Apps like iNaturalist and Plantsnap are advanced in their ability to identify species. Plantsnap can Identify at an accuracy percentage of 90 and can Identify around 320,000 different species. Although I wasn’t aware of these products at first and this resulted in pivoting the idea several times because of this.

Existing products will not be allies. Why should a man working in his room part time consider competing against corporations who already have a great version of a product already made.

Another point of pivot was switching from addressing invasive species to invasive plants. Why? Because the general public can’t catch anything other than worms and turtles. We need to take the easy win if we want to be successful with our goal of better managing our ecosystems. The entire scope of the project is better suited for our current technology and knowledge. Although we have all this information on plants and animals, unless we are methodical and respectful of nature we may do more harm than good. Talking with one of my most outgoing friends Jenna I brought up the idea. It was depressing to hear about cases where people end up poisoning an entire river to deal with an invasive species of fish.

Please read this document for some more details on the app.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kviQ0jTcOHcVJ3A0qPH8MpTXsundoRNcJ6oyFA4_t24/edit?usp=sharing