iNat too readily comes up with most improbable ID suggestions, because the user has not submitted a location before clicking in the Species name box. I personally correct or downgrade many impossible observations every day for this reason.
I would suggest that the Species name box be made inaccessible until a location has been supplied (at least Country)
This technically does not work right now based on how the computer vision system works, and a significant rewrite of the computer vision system. You will get the same suggested ID after adding a location as you do without one.
The ID suggestions are based on perceived visual similarity, with no geography or range information applied.
Adding range intelligence to the process has been discussed and requested many times. I do not know if or when it will be implemented, an iNat staffer would have to comment on that.
It’s not completely true that I get the same suggested list with or without location. With location submitted, I get “Seen nearby” appended to some IDs.
What might be nice in the interim would be for the list with location to promote those seen nearby so they come first in the list.
Speaking as a software engineer of over 40 years, I can’t see it being a huge job to request location prior to species name, and then sort the resultant list appropriately.
New feature requests should be submitted to this category: #feature-requests
thanks!