If you enjoy the countryside, the mountains, or simply strolling through a park, you've probably wondered more than once what plant, mushroom, or animal was in front of you. These days, with a mobile phone in your pocket, it's perfectly possible. Identify species using Google Photos and various recognition apps almost instantly, without carrying heavy guides or being an expert in biology.
The combination of Google Photos, Google Lens, and specialized applications has brought about a true revolution in the so-called “citizen science” and the way we relate to natureFrom professional naturalists to curious children, everyone can photograph living things, obtain a species proposal, and also contribute valuable data for biodiversity conservation.
What is Google Lens and how does it help identify species from Google Photos?
Google Lens is a computer vision technology from Google that allows Analyze what appears in an image and relate it to information from the InternetIt not only identifies plants and animals: it also translates texts, recognizes monuments, extracts data from business cards, searches for products, or finds similar images.
When you use Lens from Google Photos, the app takes the photo you've taken and It compares the objects that appear with millions of indexed images.From there, it calculates which results are most similar and relevant, taking into account not only visual similarity, but also the text associated with those images, metadata from the websites where they are hosted, and other context indicators.
In practice, this means that if you take a picture of a plant or animal, Google Lens It generates several identification hypotheses and orders them by probability.For example, for a dog, it might consider that there is a 95% chance that it is a German Shepherd and a 5% chance that it is a Corgi; in that case, it will usually only show you the most likely option, the German Shepherd.
In other scenarios, such as when photographing a specific product (sneakers, jeans, a book), Lens may prioritize Search or Shopping results related to the purchase or detailed informationIn those cases, it even takes into account ratings from other users to decide what to show first, always within the ranking algorithms of each Google service.
To maintain some control over the content it offers, Google applies the same standards to Lens as it does to the rest of its products, such as Google SafeSearch filters to limit explicit resultsFurthermore, the tool is not affected by direct ads in its method of ordering results, although it may link to other Google commercial services.
How to use Google Photos and Google Lens to identify plants and animals
One of the most convenient ways to use Lens is through Google Photos, since Almost all the photos you take with your mobile phone end up stored there.From that same gallery you can launch the recognition and try to identify the species you are interested in without leaving the application.
The basic workflow on an Android phone is very simple: first, open Google Photos, choose the image you want to analyze, and then tap the Google Lens icon. From there, Depending on the content of the photo, you will see contextual information, action suggestions, or lists of similar products.In the case of living beings, common and scientific names, descriptions, comparative images, and links to specialized pages usually appear.
This process is not limited to fauna and flora. If you take photographs clothing or household itemsLens suggests similar products and places to buy them; with barcodes, retrieves product information; with a visiting cardIt allows you to save the contact; with the cover of a bookIt displays reviews and summaries; with a event posterIt suggests adding it to the calendar; with a monument or a buildingIt teaches historical information and schedules; and if you focus on a painting in a museumIt usually offers information about the artist and the work.
In the area that interests us, when you aim for a plant, an animal, or even a fungusLens attempts to provide you with information about the species or breed, with varying degrees of accuracy. This is where the quality of the photo, the size of its database, and your own skills in comparing images and text come into play.
A very useful trick is to take advantage of the text selection function in images. If Lens recognizes printed words (for example, on a sign or in a book), you can Press and hold the words you are interested in and copy them to the clipboard, to paste them into another app or translate them on the fly with Google Translate itself.
Translations and extra uses of Lens that enhance your observations
In addition to identifying species, Google Lens stands out for its ability to Translate texts with Google LensThis is especially useful when you're consulting field guides in other languages, reading scientific articles, or visiting a nature park abroad with signs you don't understand.
Lens can translate to all languages available in Google Translate, although for direct recognition in screenshots It officially works with a specific list of source languages.Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish are among the supported languages. The process involves taking the photo, opening it in Google Photos, tapping the Lens icon, and then selecting the translation option.
Beyond the text, the geographical factor is key. If you grant location permission, Google Lens can use your location to better refine its hypotheses.For example, if you're in Paris and photograph a large metal tower, it's more likely you're looking at the Eiffel Tower than a similar structure somewhere else in the world. Something similar happens with many species of plants and animals: knowing what region you're in eliminates impossible possibilities.
It's important to know that You can review and delete your activity on Google Lens From your Google account settings. This lets you control which searches are saved, something to consider if you frequently use the tool for sensitive topics or simply don't want to leave a trace.
Finally, remember that Lens isn't only available in Google Photos. You can access this technology elsewhere. from the Google Assistant on most Android phones and from the Google app on some modelslike the Pixel. This way, you have several entry points to the same recognition engine depending on which app you find most convenient.
Citizenship, science and maps: the role of iNaturalist
Beyond Google, one of the platforms that has best leveraged digital photography to identify living beings is iNaturalist, a citizen science project of the California Academy of SciencesIts aim is not only to satisfy the curiosity of the photographer, but to generate reliable data on biodiversity on a global scale.
The great challenge facing zoologists, mycologists, and botanists is that, in many cases, The species are only represented by old museum specimensTracking them in the wild is complicated, and conservation status assessments are only conducted every few years. With the rate at which climate change and habitat destruction are progressing, by the time new data becomes available, some species may already be on the brink of extinction.
To attack this problem, iNaturalist combines crowdsourcing, photographs and interactive mapsAnyone can upload a photo of a plant they've taken on vacation or a snail they found in their backyard, and the community—made up of amateurs, naturalists, and professional scientists—is responsible for proposing and agreeing on the identification.
The observations are placed on maps built with Google Maps Platform, so that It's easy to see which species have been recorded in a specific area.If you are interested in, for example, the monarch butterfly, you can view a global map with all sightings and navigate through them to find out when and where they were observed.
iNaturalist's mobile apps, for both Android and iOS, take advantage of the phones' GPS to automatically associate latitude and longitude coordinates to each photoIn addition, the project team enriches this spatial information with climate data from satellites such as Landsat or MODIS and other datasets on land use and human population.
Since 2017, the platform has recorded millions of observations from hundreds of thousands of contributors, covering more than one hundred thousand different species. This has allowed scientists to detect surprising rediscoveries and the presence of rare animals in unexpected placesAmong the striking cases are a snail from a Vietnamese island that hadn't been seen for more than a century, and the sighting of a rare bird in Los Angeles that was identified by a ten-year-old girl with the help of the community.
What's behind identification: from dichotomous keys to AI
In the professional work of zoologists, mycologists, and botanists, the Species identification remains a technical and often complex processClassic guides are based on dichotomous keys: a series of questions about anatomical or morphological features that narrow down groups until, hopefully, reaching the species level.
In many cases, certain characters are so fine that It is essential to use a microscope or chemical reagents to detect specific structures and reactions. And in the most conflicting groups, where the species are very similar to each other, only a genetic analysis can provide a clear answer.
However, there are also situations where a specialist with good experience can to recognize the species at a glance, simply by its overall appearance and habitatThis type of direct visual identification is known as "visual" identification, and it is precisely in this area that artificial intelligence begins to be truly useful.
Current algorithms are capable of processing immense amounts of images and learning patterns that, at a practical level, they allow for fairly refined identification proposalsespecially in well-documented groups. For the amateur naturalist, this means that, in many cases, simply taking a good photograph is enough to get a reasonable idea of what they are seeing.
Even so, it must be clear that Tools like Google Lens work with image similarity, not with biological understanding of the living beingThe system doesn't "see" a species as such; it only compares the photo you've taken with millions of similar photos and returns those that best match in color, shape, and visual context. This difference explains why, sometimes, its suggestions are very accurate and other times, quite far-fetched.
The limitations of Google Lens in identifying living beings
Despite its power, Google Lens has clear limitations when used as a taxonomic tool. Often, The first suggestion doesn't fit well with the specimen we have in front of us.Or it remains at a very general level (family, genus) without reaching species. Even when the result seems reasonable, a more detailed review can reveal important differences.
Therefore, the basic recommendation is to use Lens as a starting point and then, conduct a more thorough search to confirm the identityIt's a good idea to compare what Google says with other sources: specialized websites, naturalist forums, scientific databases, or reliable guides, and also carefully compare the suggested photos with your own.
It also helps a lot to do Take several photos from different angles and repeat the analysis with Lens.If different shots consistently return the same names, you gain confidence that you're on the right track. If, on the other hand, each photo suggests something different, it's a clear sign that the app is completely confused.
In many cases, Lens will only serve to narrow down the group to which the living being belongs—for example, giving you an approximate family or genus—something that just a few years ago was impossible for an untrained amateur. Even so, That approach can be extremely useful for continuing to follow the thread. with other tools or by asking for help from human experts.
In the context of taxonomy, this ability to accelerate visual identification makes Google Lens a a true didactic and practical revolutionespecially in secondary education, where the classification of living beings is taught and highly motivating projects can be designed using local fauna and flora.
Specialized apps for identifying animals, plants, and mushrooms
Beyond Google Lens, many specific applications have emerged in recent years for to recognize specific groups of living beings with greater precisionSome are generalist apps, while others focus on insects, birds, fish, mushrooms, or trees, which usually improves their success rate considerably.
One of the general-purpose apps is iAnimal, which allows you to take a photo directly from the app or upload one from your gallery. From there, It processes the image and tries to identify the species.The result is accompanied by a basic description, approximate size, state of preservation, and a quick link to Wikipedia. Its creators acknowledge that they are not responsible for the accuracy of this information, and in practice, user experience shows that Identification failures are frequent, despite the fact that under ideal conditions they claim to achieve over 95% accuracy in about a thousand common species.
iNaturalist, in addition to its web platform, has very comprehensive mobile applications. Its strength lies in the fact that It combines automatic recognition algorithms with human review by a global community.Thus, not only is a name proposal obtained, but the observation becomes part of a collaborative project where scientists and amateurs contribute to improving the data.
Also worth mentioning is Seek, developed by the same team as iNaturalist. This app works in real time, keeping the camera on and offering dynamic identification as you move your mobile deviceUnlike Lens, Seek doesn't focus so much on similarity to a specific photo, but on morphological patterns and geography, making it especially powerful for wildlife in your area.
The drawback is that, by encompassing plants, animals, and fungi all at once, Sometimes it falls short in accuracy and is limited to high levels of classification.It is common that with some plants I can only determine the family or give several similar but incorrect species, reminding us of the classic "he who grasps at too much, holds nothing."
In the realm of more specialized apps, Next Vision has developed a very popular collection consisting of Picture Fish, Picture Bird, and Picture Insect, focused respectively on fish, birds, and insects. These tools They tend to produce better results when working with specific groups.And in the case of Picture Bird, they even incorporate song recognition, something especially useful in field ornithology.
For mushrooms, Next Vision offers Picture Mushroom, an app that can scan in real time or from photos. Its free version is somewhat limited, but allow Identify mushrooms from a photo with reasonable resultsprovided that it is accompanied by some criteria and is never used as the sole basis for deciding whether a mushroom is edible.
There are also dedicated apps, such as “Mushroom and Fungus Identifier” by AnnapurnApp Technologies, which They use augmented reality to observe specimens from various angles.Although they still work best with well-focused, static photos, their greatest value lies in making mycology accessible to enthusiasts who would otherwise find it very difficult to access technical information.
Regarding plants, a classic tool in Spain is ArbolAPP, developed by the CSIC (Spanish National Research Council). Instead of image recognition, this app uses a simple dichotomous key based on questions about leaves and other visible featuresThis narrows down the list of possible species. It focuses solely on Iberian and Canary Island trees, which limits its scope but makes it very manageable.
For ornamental plants, the Planta app combines a photo recognition system with a comprehensive care guide. It is capable of It suggests what species your plant might be and reminds you when to water, fertilize, or prune it.Something that anyone with a terrace or garden who doesn't want to complicate things too much will appreciate.
Among the most highly regarded tools internationally is PlantNet, a project driven by French scientific institutions. This app allows you to indicate whether you are photographing leaves, flowers, fruit, or bark, and It invites you to upload several images of the same plant to refine the identification.Its enormous database and the support of citizen science make it one of the most reliable options for identifying wild flora.
When to trust apps and when to consult an expert
However advanced they may be, all these applications have something in common: Their results should be considered approximate, never definitive.They are fantastic and fun tools for exploring what you see on an excursion, learning more about the local flora, or starting to familiarize yourself with birds and insects.
The problem arises when identification has important consequences. If you need a species name. for rigorous scientific study, environmental management, or especially to find out if a mushroom or fruit is edibleBlindly trusting an app is a risk not worth taking. Mistakes happen, and they can have serious consequences.
In those cases, the best strategy is to combine your own observation with what the apps indicate, and then... Consult a specialist in the relevant group.Mycologists for mushrooms, botanists for plants, zoologists for fauna. They have the experience, the technical knowledge, and, when necessary, access to laboratory tools or genetic analysis.
Image recognition tools have democratized access to naturalist knowledge, allowing millions of people build a closer relationship with the nature that surrounds themAt the same time, they are generating massive databases that help researchers track distribution and abundance trends of species, something crucial in a context of climate crisis.
By using Google Photos with Google Lens and other apps like iNaturalist, Seek, PictureBird, PictureMushroom, or PlantNet, anyone can go from simple curiosity to actively participating in conservation projects. As long as they exercise caution and know when to stop and ask an expert for help, These technologies become powerful allies for learning, enjoying, and protecting the life around us..
