Description of need:
Copying coordinates of observations is currently cumbersome. One has to separately copy the latitude and the longitude by clicking and dragging because it is set up like this:
(Chrome after double clicking latitude)
(Chrome after double clicking longitude)
This is also true when editing personal observations:
(Chrome after double clicking longitude)
(Chrome after double clicking longitude)
(Chrome after double clicking longitude)
Being able to copy coordinates is useful for adding coordinates to spreadsheets, emails, map search fields, etc. I would think this can be downloaded, but for just a few observations thatâs not worth it.
Feature request details:
Change the display to something like this:
Making it so the coordinates (and nothing else) are copied when double clicked would also be great. Even better would be a âcopy coordinatesâ button that copied the coordinates to the clipboard if they were clicked on.
An easy work-around for copying is to click on the Google link and copy the coordinates from there.
The click and drag copy method on iNat works fine in a browser. Itâs easy to select both lat and long and copy both at the same time.
When editing the coordinates, if you start your click-and-drag selection outside the box containing the individual Lat or Long coordinate, and start it just before the Lat in the outer box you can select both Lat and Long coordinates at the same time for copying.
Yes, I agree, Iâve wanted this for a long time. I make maps, and being able to copy the coordinates of individual observations would make it easy to embellish GPS maps.
If youâre using iNat data to make maps itâs often best and easiest to simply download the CSV data. I do this for observations in my area for use in ArcGIS.
For individual observations thatâs not super practical. I use Google Earth to visualize ranges with shapefiles of freshwater gastropod distributions (drainages are hard to differentiate from satellites sometimes). When I have a new observation to ID, I put the coordinates in and see where it falls. Copying and pasting is the easiest way to do this. Even with more than one observation itâs often best to go one at a time.
Doesnât work for me - can copy either lat or long, not both. When starting outside of the lat box, it still only copies the lat, not the long. Of course Iâm using Firefox on an antique mac⌠might work just fine for others.
In Chrome on windows itâs easy for me. I click right before the L in Lat, and drag down past the coordinates following the Long, then hit âcopyâ once everything is selected.
I think what he means is for the observation click details under the map then View on Google. The coordinates will be availiable in the search bar or within the description on the left. I usually just copy them from the search bar but either should work.
I agree this is a reasonably easy workaround, but if there was enough interest it seems this would be a minor enough change (from my perspective knowing nothing) that would be really convenient if implemented.
I use your technique to select and easily copy coordinates from the google map by first clicking âDetailsâ then âView on Google.â
However, in my hands it only works on existing observations. For some reason when you are creating an observation, if you click on âGoogleâ (this time itâs in the map), it opens the âareaâ on Google Maps without any pinpoint lat/lon you could conveniently copy. So if you want to get the lat/lon of the observation you are uploading, you are back to copying the coordinates one at a time.
Perhaps it is the difference between copying from published (uploaded) observations, versus copying from observations being created, that is causing the different experiences being reported in this thread.
In order to confirm my identification when I am creating an observation I often check the location of my observation with other websites such as CalFlora. It would be nice to be able to conveniently copy the location in one step as @thomaseverest is proposing.
Needing to click a google link to bypass an easily-fixable UI goof on iNaturalist is silly. Itâs a reasonable thing to do so long as the UI isnât fixed, but itâs not a reason not to fix the UI.
I use an incredibly simple app (Android) when doing rare plant surveys. Called GPS Logger; easy to annotate and download coordinates later. Works without WiFi, uses multiple satellites; instantaneous. Hereâs a tutorial if you want all the bells and whistles for tracking a hike. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPHE8du-1jA
Or, a phone photo should have the GPS coordinates of a shot.
I updated the iNaturalist Enhancement Suite Chrome extension to add a button to the geolocation modal on observation pages which copies the geocoordinates to the clipboard as a simple comma-separated string:
