There has been a lot of buzz about mobile apps on college campuses lately: the New Media Consortium selected mobile apps as one of its key technology focuses for 2012, and the topic of mobile apps on campus has received coverage by publications like The Chronicle of Higher Ed and The New York Times. Below is a survey of the mobile apps landscape at Columbia, which are divided into three groups: Informational/Campus Guides Apps, School-Specific Apps, and Academic & Scholarly Apps.

Know of any Columbia-grown apps we missed? Let us know - give us a tweet on Twitter, or post to our Facebook timeline!

Informational/Campus Guide Apps

Name: iColumbia
Platform: Apple iOS
Cost: Free
Description: Developed by Wei Yao, a student in the Instruction Technology & Media Program at Teachers College, iColumbia is a comprehensive guide for current and prospective students to daily life at Columbia. Daily campus news, library information, events, the gym schedule, a listing of student resources, even a handy NYC subway map are included. A video section integrates content the Columbia YouTube channel and nine other channels managed by Columbia schools and institutes.
Download this app via the App Store.

Name: unofficial Columbia University Android Mobile app
Platform: Android
Cost: Free
Description: This Android app was developed by Ariq Azad (Twitter: @ariqazad), a Columbia Engineering undergrad, written in HTML5, then published using PhoneGap. Current features include a course listing search, feeds from popular Columbia news sources, CULPA.info reviews, and maps of Columbia campus. Coming soon: Courseworks push notifications, SSOL data, UNI look-up, campus shuttle times & locations, local MTA data, and more.
Download this app via Google Play.

Name: myColumbia
Platform: Android
Cost: Free
Description: Similar to the unoffical Columbia University Android app, the myColumbia Android app offers access to course info on both CourseWorks and SSOL, campus news, CULPA.info reviews, and campus shuttle tracking. This app was also developed by a Columbia Engineering undergraduate student, Carlos Xavier Hernández.
Download this app via Google Play.

School-Specific Apps

Name: Columbia Business School Mobile
Platform: Apple iOS
Cost: Free
Description: Columbia Business School Mobile is an app that, according to its App Store entry, “gives members of the [Columbia Business School] community convenient access to important and timely School-related information and services.” The Business School says the app was the first of its kind among top-tier business schools, and allows current and potential students to view information about School events and club activities and browse course listings. In addition, current students can access course assignments and materials, a campus map, School news stories, and receive campus safety alerts. User can customize their experience by saving information for quick reference.
Download this app via the App Store.

Name: Columbia School of Continuing Education mobile app
Platform: Apple iOS, Android
Cost: Free
Description: The Columbia School of Continuing Education’s mobile app is notable for being designed as a mobile course management tool that allows students to get course-related information and engage with their classmates. Users can view discussion threads and respond to the instructor or classmates, access quizzes and exams, see grades and comments on assignments, and access profiles of other members of a course. The app is part of a comprehensive online learning platform developed by Pearson# for the School of Continuing Education.
Download this app via the App Store.
Download this app via Google Play.

Academic & Scholarly Apps

Name: Leafsnap
Platform: Apple iOS
Cost: Free
Description: Leafsnap is a simple but impressive app: users take a picture of a leaf with their smartphone, and visual recognition software built into the app identifies the species of tree it is from. This next-gen field guide was developed by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution. An Android version is currently being developed.
Download this app via the App Store.

Name: DogSnap
Platform: Apple iOS
Cost: Free
Description: From the developers of Leafsnap, Dogsnap is the second in a series of electronic field guides developed by scientists from Columbia University and the University of Maryland. This free mobile app uses visual recognition software to help identify a dog's breed from a photograph of its face.
Download this app via the App Store.

Name: Earth Observer
Platform: Apple iOS
Cost: $0.99
Description: Created at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Earth Observer lets users “visit and learn about our planet’s terrestrial landscapes, oceans and seas, frozen ice caps, atmosphere and clouds, geologic terrains, topography, nautical charts, natural hazards, human impacts, and many other earth and environmental science topics.” Thematic content is overlaid on a base map with adjustable opacity. Topics include not just descriptions, but also data sources, credits, citations, and external links. The app definitely geeks out in the details: it includes three different map projections (Mercator, North Polar, and South Polar) and a “global multi-resolution digital elevation model for land and ocean to a horizontal resolution of 10 meters for the US mainland, 30 meters elsewhere and 4 meters in some US coastal harbors and estuaries.”
Download this app via the App Store.

Name: Gene Tutor
Platform: Apple iOS
Cost: $2.99
Description: From Columbia Technology Ventures, Gene Tutor is an app designed as a study aid for students taking a standard college level course in Genetics. Although it was specifically designed for students taking “Molecular and Mendelian Genetics” at Barnard College, Columbia, the material should be relevant to any similar course or advanced Introductory Biology course anywhere. It covers topics such as Mendelian Inheritance, Pedigree Analysis and Sex Linkage in Classical Genetics and DNA structure, Gene Expression and Gene Regulation in Molecular Genetics.
Download this app via the App Store.

Name: NeuroSpiral
Platform: Apple iOS
Cost: Free
Description: From Columbia Technology Venture, NeuroSpiral records and plays back your movements in tracing a spiral. You can change the spiral parameters and start any way you'd like and from any orientation, or just draw if you want. You are given a percent score out of a possible 100 that reflects your overall accuracy in tracing the spiral.
Download this app via the App Store.

(All app icons courtesy of the Apple App Store and Google Play.)

Written by Courtney Lockemer and Brian O'Hagan