Pocket Surveyor

The app calculates area and perimeter and creates a rough 'metes-and-bounds' description, similar to a plot plan, for the borders for irregular-shaped properties which are traced on a map or paced. The locations of all the corners are calculated, with their elevations, and the bearing of each edge is shown.

The app can be used 'in the field' using GPS locations to tag corners, or used remotely to quickly construct an approximate plot description without visiting the site

The resulting property description shows the lat/long coordinates and elevation for each corner, and the length of each edge and the angle in decimal degrees from True north.

Maps and property descriptions from past surveys are now stored on the SD card and can be retrieved using a dropdown menu.

A built-in temporary edge feature can be used to find a lost corner based on a survey plan, or else to check which side of a property line with a known bearing that you happen to be standing on.

The Thumbtack icon on the landing page leads to the GeoNote feature, whereby a short verbal comment or typed message message is sent automatically to a preset home email address. The email shows the exact coordinates where the note was taken and also a link to a Google Maps page where this location is tagged by a green icon.

If you set the recipient email for GeoNote to another phone running the app, two people can keep in touch of the other's location in urban or wild locales.

Before the GeoNote feature will function, you must preset your recipient email. To do so. follow the button from the bottom of the GeoNote page to the screen with an input box for entering your email. Click the middle button to save it, after you are sure you entered it correctly. You can then double-check that it is stored properly by clicking the lower button on the input page, above the tartan image.

Setting your email need only be done once, not every time you use the app. The email can be changed later, and must be reset after installing subsequent free updates.

The are several other built-in tools.

The Compass button leads to a screen where the phone provides True North bearings and also can be used as a level for measuring slopes.

Other tools record geological dip, estimate height of distant objects, calculate sunset/sunrise/true noon and measure direction in 3D (using the phone's camera viewfinder).