Counting with the camera

On a field that a designer set to Count, you can read a number from the camera instead of tallying by hand. Like everything in the voice assistant, it proposes a number that you confirm, so a photo never commits a count on its own.

Who can do this

This needs the Member or Admin role.

Counting is part of AI-assisted collection, included on the Professional plan and above.

Two ways to count

When you open the count tool, it asks how you want to count:

• Scan tags: for items that each carry a barcode, QR code, or a printed marker (specimen bags, sample vials, traps, gear). You pan the camera over them and each distinct tag is counted once.
• Count on a tray: for untagged specimens laid out on a plain surface. You take one photo, the app marks each item it finds, and you correct the marks before confirming.

Pick whichever matches what is in front of you.

Scan tags

1. On a Count field, tap Count (or say count), then choose Scan tags.
2. Point the camera at the tagged items and pan slowly across them. The running total climbs as new tags come into view.
3. Because each tag is counted by its own id, passing back over one you already saw does not count it twice. A tag with no code, or one the camera never quite reads, simply is not counted, so watch the total.
4. When the total looks right, tap Use this count. It is read back for you to confirm.

Tip

Any barcode or QR code your crew already uses works, as long as each item’s code is unique. You can also use a printed marker (the same one described in Measuring with the camera); give each item a different marker.

Count on a tray

This mode is for specimens you can lay out, like a tray of fish, a set of shells, or plants on a board.

1. On a Count field, tap Count, then choose Count on a tray.
2. Lay the items out separated, on a plain, evenly lit surface, and fill a good part of the frame.
3. Tap Capture. The app marks each item it finds and shows a proposed count.
4. Correct the marks. Tap an item the app missed to add it, or tap a mark that is not a real item to remove it. If the whole photo came out marked wrong (for example the tray is dark and the items are light), tap Flip light / dark to try the other way.
5. When the marks match what you see, tap Use this count. It is read back for you to confirm.

What makes a tray count accurate

A plain, uniform background, even lighting, and items that are separated, not touching or overlapping. The app finds items by how they stand out from the background, so clutter, shadows, and piles are what throw it off.

When to count by hand instead

The tray count is a helper for clean, separated specimens. For a dense pile, overlapping items, or a busy background, it will miscount, and correcting dozens of marks is slower than tallying. In those cases count in smaller batches, or type the number. The point of the tool is to save time on the easy trays, never to force a photo count on a hard one.

Set a field up for counting

A designer chooses the camera tool for each field in the builder (see Field settings). Set a whole-number field’s tool to Count, and the button appears on that field during collection. A field named for a tally (a count, an abundance) is suggested as Count automatically, which the designer can confirm or change.

Where it works

Counting runs on the device, offline, and works in any modern browser including on iPhone. It never uploads the photo; the image stays on your device unless you separately attach it to the record.

Related

• Measuring with the camera
• AI-assisted data collection
• Field settings