MDeLuise / plant-it

🪴 Self-hosted, open source gardening companion app
https://plant-it.org
GNU General Public License v3.0
686 stars 25 forks source link

Add more info sources #75

Closed MDeLuise closed 10 months ago

MDeLuise commented 11 months ago

Avoid duplicated feature requests

Description

It would be useful to enhance the app by incorporating additional information sources. This not only provides users with more comprehensive data but also serves as a backup in the event that the Trefle API service becomes unavailable or the user does not have access to network.

Solution

During initial exploration, I came across this service as a potential information source for plants. Notably, the database can be downloaded in CSV format from here. A feasible approach would be to parse this file during the app's startup, allowing for the storage of all species contained within it in the app's database.

What are alternatives?

Other services could be used, if you find any please add them in this conversation.

Additional context

Currently, the app uses only Trefle species and "local" species. Consequently, when searching for a species, the user is presented with a maximum of two choices for the same species. To accommodate the expansion of services for retrieving species information, a decision must be made regarding the handling of duplicated species. One approach is to offer only the most detailed entry to the user. Alternatively, all duplicated species from the employed services could be provided, each species tagged by service — using labels such as "Trefle," "Custom," "USDA," and so on.