Ecoseek: Landscape Life List

Every U.S. state is made up of distinct natural landscapes — a pine-forested ridge, a coastal marsh, a sagebrush basin. Scientists have mapped and named every one. Ecoseek is your landscape life list — a record of which ones you've visited and which remain. Ecologists call these areas ecoregions — zones where geology, climate, soils, plant communities, and wildlife come together in recognizable patterns. Each state has a finite number of them, typically between eight and thirty, each with a published name and description. Ecoseek maps those boundaries, lets you log visits as you explore, and keeps track of which ones you’ve visited and which remain. --- THE JOURNAL The Journal screen shows your progress in your current state — how many of its ecoregions you've visited against the total. A checklist below, organized by named landscape group, marks each ecoregion as visited or remaining. Most states are divided into between three and eight named groups. Completing every ecoregion within a group — the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Ozark Highlands, the Sonoran Basin and Range — earns a milestone. The group structure gives you near-term goals within driving distance, not just a long-range total. --- ALMOST THERE When you're one or two ecoregions away from finishing a named group, the Discover screen surfaces a nudge — a card with the remaining entries and a progress bar. Tap it to open that region's map view directly. --- MILESTONES As you log visits, the app tracks progress against several markers: your first log entry, your first visit to a new state, reaching unique-ecoregion count thresholds (1, 5, 10, 25, 50, and beyond), and completing every ecoregion in a named group. Milestone records are stored privately on your device. Nothing is shared. --- THE MAP Open the map and see ecoregion boundaries layered over your location. Tap any region to read a description of its characteristics — the terrain, climate, what lives there, and what naturalists have recently observed nearby. Public lands within each region are listed too, with details on who manages them and how they're accessed. --- LOGGING A VISIT When you visit somewhere worth recording, log it to add a note and an optional photo. The app records your GPS location and the ecoregion you were in. Over time, your log becomes a field journal of the landscapes you've explored. --- DISCOVER The Discover section features a spotlight on a region in your state, with recent wildlife observations sourced from iNaturalist. It also surfaces regions drawing more observer activity than last month — a useful signal for finding places worth visiting. Almost There nudges for groups you're close to finishing also appear here. --- YOUR DATA Your activity history can be exported and restored at any time. No account required. --- • Ecoregion life list — a state-by-state checklist of every named landscape, organized by group, with a progress ring showing your completion percentage per state • Milestones — private achievement markers for group completions, count thresholds, and state firsts, stored on your device • Ecological map — ecologist-defined landscape boundaries for every contiguous U.S. state, layered over your location with public lands included • Outdoor log — record visits with notes and photos, automatically tagged to your GPS location and ecoregion • Wildlife spotlight — a featured region with recent wildlife observations sourced from iNaturalist • Trending regions — areas drawing more naturalist activity than last month • Public lands browser — discover parks, forests, and refuges within any region --- Government Data Sources This app uses publicly available U.S. government datasets: • EPA Ecoregions (https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/ecoregions) • USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) (https://www.usgs.gov/data/protected-areas-database-united-states-pad-us-4) This app is not affiliated with or endorsed by any government agency.