Simple Transcription of Block Viewing Notes while using AI

This next tip for using AI is a pretty simple one.  You can use it to transcribe notes.

Everyone is accustomed to the idea of buying a small voice recorder to carry around and make notes to yourself (I used to have one that used mini-cassette tapes).  More recently, cell phones have all kinds of free apps on them which work as basic digital voice recorders, ie. apps such as Parrot, Easy Voice, Google Recorder, etc.

Up until around 2019, these apps worked purely as recorders, until Google Recorder introduced transcription services.  But that capability was not well-known for years, and it was really only around 2024 that transcription started to explode (possibly mostly due to the massive popularity of Samsung Voice Recorder).

You're probably wondering why I'm saying that the use of AI to transcribe spoken recordings is notable?  Well, it's not that notable.  But you can step things up a notch.  Keep reading below.

 

 

Let's pretend that I'm out looking at a contract, and I need to visit a few dozen blocks and make notes.  I can start a new AI chat (using the lowest-power Instant setting) with the following prompt:

I'm starting the viewing of a tree planting contract.  The contract number is PL26CCF001.  I'm going to be visiting hopefully all of the blocks on this contract over the next day or two.  As I get to each block, I'm going to give you the unit number first, then my stream-of-consciousness thoughts about the block.  I don't want you to do anything except save my notes - no analysis, no rewriting, no editing please.  Once I'm done, I'll probably ask you some specific questions at a later date.

Now, as I visit each block, I can enter notes for that block.  At this point, keep in mind that I'm sending my queries and notes as spoken prompts, not entering text on the phone.  For example:

I just looked at unit CCF 050.  The schedule B says that this one is three species, with an elevation range from 1100-1390 meters.  It calls for 70,560 trees.  The target density is two thousand stems per hectare but they’re expecting us to achieve about eighteen hundred stems, so they’ve noted a tiny bit of regen.  I agree with this assessment.  This is standard burned mature forest, but it’s a bit ugly.  I drove the truck to this. I shouldn’t have. I got trapped in a spot that was either going to need hours of chain saw to get ahead to a turnaround, or a 12-point turn on the side of a cliff. The proper play here is to park 400m before the tiny north piece and then walk/ATV in. A couple trucks can park where they would turn from the blue road showing on the block map. We might might be able to clear out the brown road on the overview for side-by-sides with one day of work for two people. However, the side-by-side trailer would probably need to be turned around by hand up at the top.  Anything past unit CCF 054 is 350’s only.  The small crews will have to do this block, because 550’s shouldn’t come to this one.  Only plant this block when the roads are dry.  It’s a sketchy road, unless you come in by side-by-side for the last four kilometers.  This will be one of the last blocks on the contract due to the elevation. Maybe we’ll run out of trees before getting to it though.  Mental note – try to run out of trees before getting to this one.  The bottom of this block is very steep.  This one is pretty tricky.  Better make sure the planters get twenty-six cents per tree on this one.

Then I'll enter that, and Chat responds with something like, "I've received and saved your notes for CCF 050.  I have not done any analysis.  I'm ready for your next block."  At this point, I move to the next block.

A day or two later, once I'm done the same thing with every block, I'll start with a simple query like this:

Help me preserve my original notes by combining all of my comments to date in this Chat and formatting them into a single large text box that I can cut and paste into a Word document.

At this point, I don't even ask Chat to create the Word document, simply because at the moment, that's currently better accomplished in Work than in Chat.  But if I wanted to go that route, I'd prompt with "Let's move this to Work, and please create a Word document for me ..."

At this point, we still haven't accomplished anything other than a fairly fancy transcription of notes, moved into a Word document.  No big deal.  But at this point, Chat has all my thoughts about the contract.  Let's up the game slightly now, with this prompt:

Can you move all of these notes to Work please.  I'm also attaching the Schedule B1 from the forester.  I'd like you to perform the following tasks:

1.  Take my planter prices from my viewing notes and insert them into the Bid Price column (column L) in the Schedule B1.  Do the math for the block sub-totals too (column M).  Do not alter anything else on the sheet.  Do not edit or change any existing cells on the spreadsheet other than in columns L and M.  Give me a link to download the edited spreadsheet.

2.  Create a short one-page summary report detailing all recommended helicopter needs for the job, as per my notes.

3.  Create a short one-page summary report detailing all of my trail-cutting needs for the job, as per my notes.

4.  Create a short one-page summary report detailing where we're going to need side-by-sides for the job, as per my notes.  Ensure that this report identifies how many trees are related to these needs.

Now you can see why using AI for transcription really speeds up your eventual work flow.

 - Scooter

 

PS:  Send me an email at scooter@replant.ca with your suggestions on how you use AI in tree planting, and I might incorporate them into this series of blog posts.  I'd love to get some good private discussions happening too.