Installation

This page provides detailed instructions on how to download and install the resource files (bird calls and photos) for the Birding Checklist applications. The amount of data involved is too large to provide with application when it is downloaded and installed from the Google Play store.

Successful installation does require a bit of experience working with Windows Explorer and file compression utilities, but if you follow the instructions below everything should work fine. If you are unfamiliar with copying files through Windows Explorer, and you cannot find anyone to assist you, this application may not be suitable for you and you can request a refund through the Google Play store.

The required steps are:

    1. Locate the download site with the resource files for your application

    2. Download the zipped files to your PC

    3. Unzip the files to temporary folders

    4. Connect your phone/tablet to the PC and copy across the contents from the temporary folders to the correct folders on the phone

Internal Storage

Some phones have both an external SD/SDHC card, and internal memory. Where a phone or tablet has both, you MUST use the internal memory as this functions like an SD card. When the Birding Checklist application is installed and run for the first time, it will create the required folder structure in the correct location. You cannot move the folder structure. The folder structure for each checklist is similar, as shown here:

1. Locate the download site

The files are hosted on drivehq.com. The URL is provided in the help window of the Birding Checklist application and is different for each Birding Checklist. It is also listed here on the downloads page.

2. Download the zipped files to your PC

There are four resources files for most checklists. Download and installation of any or all is optional, but most users will want to download the photos and bird calls (sounds).

    • photos.zip

    • sounds.zip

    • rangemaps.zip

    • descriptions.zip

The filename prefix varies for each application. These files cannot be directly copied to your smartphone or tablet, you should download them to your PC first.

3. Unzip the files

Extract the contents from each zip file to a separate temporary folder on your PC. If you have Winzip or a similar third party compression utility installed, right-click on the zip file and specify the folder in which the uncompressed files will be placed.

The process is slightly different if you are using the in-built Windows compression tools. The example below shows use of the Extraction Wizard on Windows XP. Right-click on the zip file and select "Open with Compressed (zipped) folders". Then start the extraction wizard by selecting "File - Extract All" from the Windows Explorer menu, and specify a temporary location for the files:

The result should be 4 temporary folders on your PC containing the unzipped resource files (the example below is for the WP checklist, using \temp\downloads as a typical temporary location):

The number of resource files varies by application, but will be approximately as listed below (numbers may increase over time as more resources are added to each application):

4. Copy files from PC to phone/tablet

The two most common mistakes made during installation are:

    1. Not uncompressing the 4 downloaded files prior to copying to the phone, or

    2. Copying the entire uncompressed folder and creating a new sub-folder on the phone beneath the photos or sounds folder

Attach the smartphone or tablet to your PC using the standard connectivity of the device, eg USB mass storage, or MTP (newer devices). You should be able to see the Birding Checklist folder structure on the SD card or internal memory of your device (example below for WP/UK Birding Checklist):

Copy across the contents from the four unzipped temporary folders as follows:

    • Temporary photos folder to the \photos folder on the phone/tablet

    • Temporary sounds folder to the \sounds folder on the phone/tablet

    • Temporary rangemaps folder to the \rangemaps folder on the phone/tablet

    • Temporary descriptions folder to the \descriptions folder on the phone/tablet

The result should look similar to the screenshots below (specific example here is for UK/WP Birding Checklist - click on the images to see a larger screen shot).

Photos:

Sounds:

Rangemaps:

Descriptions:

You may optionally install the sample videos and alternate language files (if applicable) using the same method.

5. Checking the Installation

Once you have finished copying all the resource files, start the Birding Checklist application and use the menu command "Scan photos & sounds". A progress bar will display as the application reads the contents of the photos and sounds folders, and then builds icons for the main list. This will only take a few seconds on modern phones, but you will still see the progress bar counting through many hundreds (or thousands) of files.

If the progress bar flashes by quickly showing a count of only 0 or 1, the files have not been installed in the correct folders. Go back and check the steps above. Failure to read and display the photos and sounds are always due to the files not being installed in the correct folders.

Rangemaps and Extended Description buttons appear on the Bird Details window when the resources are present (they will not be there for all birds). To verify for a particular checklist, use the following birds:

    • WP Checklist - Red-throated Diver

    • US Checklist - Black-bellied Whistling Duck

    • NZ Checklist - North Island Brown Kiwi

    • Australian Checklist - Emu for rangemap, Mallard for extended description

    • South African Checklist - Great Crested Greve for description, Greater Kestrel for range map