ObserveData

A Swift package for managing photo observations with species identification and taxonomic classification.

Features

• Photo Management: Store and manage photo observations with full resolution and thumbnail support
• Species Identification: Track species information with taxonomic hierarchy
• Location Data: GPS coordinates and elevation tracking from photo EXIF or device
• SwiftData Integration: Persistent storage using SwiftData models
• CoreML Support: Machine learning classification for species identification
• Grid Navigation: Built-in support for grid-based UI navigation

Requirements

• iOS 18.0+ / macOS 15.0+
• Swift 6.2+
• Xcode 16.0+

Installation

Swift Package Manager

Add ObserveData to your project using Swift Package Manager:

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/jjnicolas/ObserveData", branch: "main")
]

Then add it to your target dependencies:

targets: [
    .target(
        name: "YourTarget",
        dependencies: ["ObserveData"]
    )
]

Usage

Creating a Photo Observation

import ObserveData
import CoreLocation

let observation = PhotoObservation(
    timestamp: Date(),
    name: "Red-tailed Hawk",
    species: species,
    photoData: imageData,
    location: CLLocationCoordinate2D(latitude: 37.7749, longitude: -122.4194),
    elevation: 50.0
)

Working with Species

let species = Species(
    leafIndex: 42,
    name: "Buteo jamaicensis",
    taxonId: 12345,
    lineage: [
        TaxonInfo(taxonId: 1, name: "Animalia", rank: 1),
        TaxonInfo(taxonId: 2, name: "Chordata", rank: 2),
        TaxonInfo(taxonId: 3, name: "Aves", rank: 3)
    ]
)

Taxonomic Classification

The package includes support for hierarchical taxonomic classification with CoreML integration:

// Access taxonomic lineage
if let lineage = species.lineage {
    for taxon in lineage {
        print("\(taxon.name) (Rank: \(taxon.rank))")
    }
}

Models

PhotoObservation

The main model for storing photo-based observations:

• id: Unique identifier (UUID)
• timestamp: Date and time of observation
• name: Observation name or description
• species: Associated species information
• latitude/longitude: GPS coordinates
• elevation: Elevation in meters
• photoData: Full resolution photo (external storage)
• thumbnailData: Optimized thumbnail (external storage)

Species

Species information with taxonomic hierarchy:

• id: Unique identifier (UUID)
• name: Species name
• leafIndex: Classification leaf index for CoreML
• taxonId: Taxonomic identifier
• observations: Related photo observations
• lineage: Full taxonomic hierarchy from kingdom to species

TaxonInfo

Lightweight structure representing a single taxonomic level:

• taxonId: Unique taxonomic identifier
• name: Taxonomic name
• rank: Hierarchical rank level

Dependencies

• GridNavigation: Grid-based navigation support

License

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 Julien Nicolas

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Author

Julien Nicolas

Version History

• 1.0.0 - Initial release