Explore More
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Explore More -
Useful Exploring Tools
When you are out exploring new and unfamiliar places, it is essential to make sure you have the necessary tools that will help make your trip as effortless and simplified as possible. I have discovered a few tools that have helped guide me throughout all of my trips around the state of Michigan and I want to share them with all of you so that you can get the best experience possible. Here are some of the tools I often use…
Google Maps:
Regardless if you have an iPhone or an Android, I have discovered that Google Maps is the best and easiest to use when it comes to trying to find new places to explore. This is the reason why I used Google Maps for my interactive map where I pin the locations to all the places I have listed on this website. Google Maps shows more names of locations that Apple Maps sometimes does not show, which usually ends up being the cool places that people do not always know about. This is just a preference for me, so you can still obviously use Apple Maps if that is what you prefer, but everything I use is based off of Google Maps.
Google Earth/Google Earth Pro:
Google Earth is more of an upgraded version of Google Maps, but is a little less practical and simple compared to Google Maps, at least for the navigation aspect. The main thing I use Google Earth for is to see more of a 3-dimensional model of the map so that I can get a better idea of what it will look like without actually being there. Another important aspect of Google Earth that I use very often is the measuring tool. The measure tool is a little ruler icon at the top of the screen and it can be very useful if you are trying to figure out the distance from one location to another, or even the length of a hike (if you can see the trail from the map view). I also find Google Earth to be a little bit smoother than Google Maps, so I sometimes find the location on Google Earth and then pin it on Google Maps.
AllTrails:
AllTrails is a free hiking app that can be useful for identifying trails, finding and following public hikes that have already been recorded by other hikers, or even creating your own hike in the navigate section. I have used AllTrails for many different hikes over the past few years and I plan to make some of my own for as many of the locations on this website as I can. You can filter through several different settings such as the difficulty, what you want to see, how close it is, the length of the trail, the route type, and many other things that can help you find the perfect hike for your skill level. People also often write helpful reviews of the hikes and post pictures, which can allow you to determine if you will like the hike and give you an idea of what you will be seeing.
iNaturalist:
Have you ever been out on a hike and could not figure out what kind of plant or animal you were looking at? iNaturalist is the perfect app to help you figure that out! iNaturalist is an easy-to-use database that takes information from other people’s observations and can help you identify different species by simply taking a picture using the app. iNaturalist is also a simple way for the public to help with research and data entry by simply taking a picture and uploading it. You don’t need a science degree or even any experience with anything science related! All you need is you, your phone, and the great outdoors and you are already helping with research efforts!
Seek:
Seek is another free app created by iNaturalist to help identify and learn about different species. With seek, you can simply hover your lens over a plant or animal and it will begin to help you identify what you are scanning. The main difference between iNaturalist and Seek is that seek will give you an answer for what you are looking for almost immediately, while with iNaturalist, you might sometimes have to wait a little bit for someone to verify what you took a picture of. I do not necessarily have a preference for which one I like more, so I would recommend trying both of them to see if you like one more.
Merlin Bird ID:
Merlin is the perfect app for helping you identify different types of birds that you may come across while you are out exploring. This is another free app that can help you identify birds in a few different ways. The way that I typically use is the sound ID. When you open the app, you can click the microphone button labeled “sound” and it will start to listen for bird calls. It can occasionally misidentify a bird, but I have rarely had that happen. Another method is the step-by-step method where you follow a process of steps such as the location and date of when/where you saw the bird, the size of the bird, the color of the bird, and what kind of environment you found it in. It will then give you a list of possible birds and you can pick what bird you found. Another method is the typical photo ID that most apps have. You can either upload a photo that you have already taken, or you can take a take a live photo. All of these can be effective ways of helping you identify the birds you see or hear and it can help enhance your experience.