Why should I
crop my photos before uploading an image for identification?
Bee pixels are valuable. When a bee is small in your original
photo, it will not be represented by that many pixels. So, the machine may see
more background than bee. Cropping the image tightly to the edge of the bee
reduces the number of distracting pixels and maximizes meaningful bee pixels.
How can I maximize accuracy when using
BeeMachine?
Computer vision is remarkably robust to low-quality images,
which is good because bees are really hard to photograph! However, as with
people, the algorithms do better with well-focused images and unobstructed
views of bees. Therefore, after cropping, upload your highest quality images of
bees. Images taken in profile or from above do a little better than images
head-on or from below. Look for consistent predictions by comparing the results
of multiple images taken of the same individual. The algorithm seems to
handle the JPEG file format better than PNG, so upload your images as JPEGs for
best results.
What if I’m not sure if the insect
in my photo is actually a bumble bee?
BeeMachine isn’t yet
able to understand that not everything is a bumble bee! So any image uploaded
will be forced into one of the bumble bee categories. Updates will include a “Not
a bumble” category and/or more informative results for common mimics.
What file types are supported and what is
the maximum file size that can be uploaded?
Currently, you may upload JPEG and PNG. However, JPEGs tend to
provide more accurate results. Files can be up to 5 MB but files over 1 MB may
take a little longer to process.
What is next for BeeMachine?
BeeMachine is in active development so check back for
new features and updates. Soon manual cropping will not be required. We are
working on a user-friendly mobile app that can handle multiple images at once
as well as short video clips. We are also updating the classification model to
increase accuracy and include more bee species (not just bumbles) in more
regions of the world.
Can I contribute images to help improve BeeMachine?
Yes! If you would like to donate images of pinned specimens
or bees in the field, please contact me via email: bspiesman@ksu.edu.