Add Compare tool to the uploader

[bouteloua]

The Compare tool is a really quick and helpful way to see a ranked list of the most observed species in a family/genus/group that occur near an observation (among other features). It’s particularly helpful to me when reviewing observations I made while traveling to a new area where I’m not at all familiar with the local flora/fauna.

But the Compare tool is only available for observations that have already been uploaded, so to use it I would have to upload the observations, navigate to the observation of interest, and then click the Compare button. I can get the same information other ways, such as searching on the Explore page or heading to a place checklist, but the quick search, already tailored to the observation I’m looking at, is what makes it particularly useful.

Having the Compare tool on the web uploader (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/upload) would be super handy.

Not quite sure where it would go, whether it should be a link or button, or other design/UI considerations.

[RangerMyles]

Good idea! Will vote.

[sullivanribbit]

I have also wished I could access the Compare tool while uploading.

[tiwane]

OK, so we talked about this and while we’re not totally opposed to the Compare tool being added to the uploader, the uploader’s not designed for detailed ID work - it’s for getting your photos/sounds into iNat. We’d rather not shoehorn the Compare tool into it as it is now and/or duplicate a lot of functionality.

How about a “Submit observations and go to Identify” button? You could get the observations’ basic data in order then go through them with Identify after they’ve been uploaded.

[schoenitz]

@tiwane

How about a “Submit observations and go to Identify” button? You could get the observations’ basic data in order then go through them with Identify after they’ve been uploaded.

This sounds like it’s getting close to the draft mode we’ve been asking for.

[dianastuder]

@tiwane

then go through them with Identify after they’ve been uploaded

will that be a draft mode? To avoid the people whose work flow is upset by Those People adding an ID before the observer gets around to it? (Not my work flow)

Upload
Identify
Publish

With a toggle for the default setting

[thatcactusgirl]

@tiwane

How about a “Submit observations and go to Identify” button? You could get the observations’ basic data in order then go through them with Identify after they’ve been uploaded.

My problem with this is that a lot of people (admittedly probably me included) would not fill in the identification since we’d be identifying them more later anyway, which would temporarily increase the amount of unknown obs, and make the work harder for those working hard to decrease those.

The lack of a more in-depth identification tool when uploading obs is the reason I use the mobile app for uploading, which isn’t super ideal after a day of taking pics of ~50 organisms.