1. A method for performing field data collection, the method comprising: (a) capturing a verbal observation as audio data; (b) time-stamping said audio data; (c) capturing location data contemporaneously with said verbal observation with a location receiver device; (d) time-stamping said location data; (e) interpreting said audio data using semantic information stored in a reference grammar; (f) creating a recognized text data record from said interpreted audio data; (g) merging said location data and said recognized text data record to form a time-based observation data object; and (h) converting said location data into a time-based track data object.