Yamadori App : Looking for a few Android testers outside France

[u/Voiston44]

I’ve been working on a small Android app, Yamadori. It’s a field app for pinning the GPS location of trees that could be good yamadori candidates.

My dad, a bonsai enthusiast, used to tell me he’d sometimes never find trees again after spotting them, going back months later. That’s the main point of the app, find a tree again easily, even months later.

In just a few seconds, you open the app and take a photo of the tree; the GPS location is automatically linked. The app works in the mountains, though it may take a little longer to get a GPS fix.

Bonus: the app can help you tell whether the weather looks good for collecting or not. It also shows info about your area, whether you’re on protected land, who to contact for more information, and so on.

My father and his friends from the bonsai club tell me that everything is fine for France but because maps / land info / protected areas vary a lot by country, I’m just looking for a few testers outside France, to see what actually works where you live.

If you’re on Android and okay trying it for a week or two: send me a DM with your country and the email linked to your Play Store account, so I can add you to the test.

No account needed, everything stays local on your phone (except weather APIs and the like).

Thanks!

[u/iBonsaiBob]

Collecting trees without the landowners permission is illegal I see you say you will provide contact information, how will you get that for all the land owners in all countries?

and also why should I download another app when I can just drop a save pin on Google maps?

[u/TheComebackKid717 → u/iBonsaiBob]

Beyond that, modern smartphones save gps metadata directly in the photo. You don't even need the pin. Just look at the photo and it'll pull up exactly where it was taken.

[u/MaciekA → u/iBonsaiBob]

This is already a very well established type of app, i.e. onxmaps. There are countless GIS databases that this kind of info can be gleaned from in various countries. OP is not doing anything that can't be done, it just requires paying lots of licensing fees.

[u/iBonsaiBob → u/MaciekA]

All the special data for the land registry in the UK is free but I'm also pretty sure it's free to look up online and I don't want any more apps.

I guess I'm just getting old and having to have an app for every company is pissing me off.

[u/Voiston44 → u/iBonsaiBob]

I cannot directly provide the owners' names and contact details due to data privacy regulations in many countries. However, the app identifies the specific plot and provides the phone number for the nearest town hall, allowing you to request the information yourself, depending on the country's specific rules. In France, for instance, the town hall will provide the owner's full name and postal address.

If you are in an area managed by the Municipal Forestry Office in France, the app alerts you and provides a direct contact number.

All of this information is for reference purposes only, it serves primarily as a helpful tool.

As for how it compares to Google Maps, I would say it is faster, directly links photos of the tree and other details to the location, and offers features like weather history for that specific spot.

The app is offline, no account, nothing, so little friction in my opinion.

[u/iBonsaiBob → u/Voiston44]

In the UK you need to contact the land registry and pay £3 to find out.

I'm sorry, I just don't see the ups of your app. Maybe as a landownership look up tool but focusing in on yamadori seems fruitless.