I’ve found that there are a lot of observations with locations which were set from typing in a state, country, or county, which creates a specific point for the observation though the accuracy circle in extremely large. For example, there are 66 verifiable observations from various users at the exac…

As you mention, there is nothing technically wrong with these observations, although with such a big accuracy circle they are of limited scientific value. You could add a polite comment to let the observer know that if they can narrow down the geographic area more precisely, their observations will …

see this related feature request https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/don-t-include-observations-within-standard-places-if-the-precision-circle-crosses-the-place-s-bounding-box/15129

I’ve seen a similar issue with herbarium specimens that all map to a point in central Oregon because all the label says is “Oregon.” Sigh. I think it’s appropriate to mark “No” for “Is location accurate?” for these center-of-the-US records. Just as locations with latitude and longtitude both as 0…

[image] sedgequeen: I think it’s appropriate to mark “No” for “Is location accurate?” for these center-of-the-US records. I have to say that I’ve sometimes also taken the approach of voting “No” on the DQA question “Is location accurate?” for observations with unreasonably large accuracy circ…

There are lots of records from natural history collections with very vague/general points/locations on GBIF though. I had to work through a bunch during my MSc work. They are often older records where the location on the tag/label just says something like “Puerto Rico” or “Kansas”. Despite that lack…

Broad accuracy circles, specific encompassing places

General

Topic		Replies	Views
Location voted not accurate when there is a large location circle General	2	581	September 15, 2020
On observations with unusually low location accuracy General question	90	1814	June 8, 2025
Huge "Accuracy" Circles General	44	1027	March 25, 2026
Location accuracy for 'places' General	9	314	August 5, 2024
Don't let an observation attain Research Grade if its location is very imprecise Feature Requests	198	9439	March 16, 2026

Broad accuracy circles, specific encompassing places

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