The app lists all the species you may find nearby.
"Map of Life" has a simple premise: tell the app where you're located and it will tell you what kind of wildlife is there.
“It really is a dramatic help in being able to discover species around you,” said Walter Jetz, an associate professor at Yale, and one of the developers of the app. “To be able to identify them, and to be able to connect to them, and learn more about them.”
Jetz said the app plugs into a massive database of worldwide species information, including habitat distribution maps, animal pictures, and facts about all types of wildlife: from bumblebees to trees.
“When you say I'm in Hartford, or I'm in California, it gives, for the 50 kilometers around you, a complete list of species that you may possibly find here,” Jetz said. “So, that immediately gets you from all amphibians of the world, or all butterflies of North America, to the list of butterflies that you could possibly expect around where you are.”
Jetz said the app also allows you to record sightings of animals you see. The hope, he said, is that citizen scientists can add to Map of Life's distribution maps, honing their accuracy and helping with future trend assessments and biodiversity studies.
