Most of the questions we have in a day never get asked. Not because they are hard, but because looking them up costs more than the answer is worth. What is that bird. What is that building. What is this flower called.

Lower the cost of asking and something shifts. You start asking. It is a small change and it makes an ordinary walk noticeably more interesting, which is not what I expected when we started building this.

On a walk

Gardens are full of plants that people recognise and cannot name. Point and ask, and you get the name, usually along with whether it is native, when it flowers, and whether it is the sort of thing that survives being planted by somebody who forgets to water.

Trees are better, because once you can name five trees you cannot unsee them. Ask about a leaf, ask about bark, ask why that one has lost its leaves before the others have. Buildings work the same way. That thing you have walked past for eleven years with the odd roof, ask what style it is and roughly when it was built. The answer is frequently more interesting than the building looked.

In a museum or gallery

Gallery cards are a particular problem. They are small, low contrast, mounted at hip height, and written for people who already know. Ask what a painting is and you get the artist and period, which is fine. Ask a better question and you get something worth having.

That last category is what makes a gallery enjoyable rather than dutiful. Do check the card for facts that matter, since attributions and dates are exactly the sort of detail that gets confidently wrong.

Be a good visitor

Plenty of museums restrict photography, and pointing a camera reads the same as taking one whether or not you are. Check the signs, keep your voice down, and do not stand in front of a painting narrating at it while other people are trying to look.

With a grandchild

This turns out to be the best use of the lot, and it is not really about the technology at all.

Children ask constant questions and most adults run out of answers by mid morning. Being able to say let us find out, and then actually find out, on the spot, in the garden, changes the shape of the afternoon. What is this beetle. Why is that leaf shaped like that. What kind of cloud is that. The value is not the answer so much as not having to say I do not know and stop there.

Let them ask it themselves, too. Children work out how to talk to it in about four seconds and are far less self conscious about it than adults are.

Around the house

Curiosity is not only outdoors. What is this tool in the shed. What is this coin. What is this plant that somebody gave me and I have been slowly failing to keep alive. What language is this on the back of this tin.

Old photographs are a good one. Ask what year the clothing suggests, or what kind of car that is in the background. It will not know your family, but it is remarkably good at dating a photograph from what happens to be in it.

The honest caveat

It gets things wrong. Plant identification from a single angle is genuinely hard, and it will occasionally give you a confident answer that is simply not right. That is fine for curiosity and not fine for foraging.

Never eat anything based on an identification from a camera. Mushrooms in particular. The margin for error is death, and no vision model is anywhere near good enough for that. Use it to be interested, not to decide what is safe.

Ask more things

That is really the only recommendation here. Glimpse is free with minutes every day, so the cost of asking a small question is now roughly nothing. Point it at something on your next walk and see how long you last before asking a second thing.

Common questions

Can it identify plants and trees accurately?

Usually, though identification from a single angle is genuinely hard and it does get things wrong. It is reliable enough for curiosity and not remotely reliable enough for foraging.

Can I use it to identify mushrooms?

Never eat anything identified by a camera. Mushroom identification has a fatal margin for error and no vision model is good enough for that decision.

Does it work on paintings in galleries?

Yes, and asking what is happening in a picture or why it matters gives a better answer than asking for the title. Check the gallery card for facts such as dates and attributions, and check whether photography is allowed.