Hello, I’m looking for a way to not only see the seasonal distribution of records, but the distribution by height of an observed species. For example for mosses, we have it like this: [image] That would be nice for other species, too. Is there a way to do so in iNat? Thanks for any help. Kind…

You can readily download the data you’re interested in, filter based on location accuracy, and calculate this yourself using a Digital Elevation Model in QGIS or similar. For individual observations, you can see the elevation by clicking on Details and then Macrostrat: <a class="lightbox" href="https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/6/0/6082cf64b888a2b428419e3718321ca71f99c9eb.jpeg" data-download-href="/uploads/short-url/dLM5ZeD6zwUP983ToMU022RgH4T.jpeg?dl=1" title="Screenshot 2025-05-25 at 12-26-25 Polytrichum juniperinum (juniper haircap moss) from Powerscourt Mountain Co. Wicklow Ireland on 24 April 2025 at 02 23 PM by B. Phalan. in blanket bog · iNaturalist">[Screenshot 2025-05-25 at 1…

Several major issues with elevation data from observations are that observations are often not fully accurate to the location and this can result in major deviations in elevation from the actual site, that even if the location is fully accurate the elevation information on the basemap used by iNat …

I think even though the data can deviate due to location errors combined with low resolution elevation model, it will provide a decent understanding of the distribution in most cases. for example if you find a a species at high elevation but usually it’s only seen around sea level, that might be a …

I haven’t seen an elevation field when entering an observation. Elevation is one of the data I collect for most of my observations, which are referenced to traverse points in surveys, but there are a few locations where I’ve observed something, found it on the map, and don’t know the elevation.

[image] hedaja: if you find a a species at high elevation but usually it’s only seen around sea level (not using elevation) but the Geomodel Anomaly has 14.7K mosses

Thanks a lot for all your answers. So it seems, that I haven’t overlooked something from the technical use of the website to find the corresponding information. Thanks for all the background info and thoughts on the topic. It is clear, that the information is more or less accurate depending on the …

Elevation has been requested and declined previously. You can see related discussion and workarounds in these topics (and others): https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/altitude-on-observations/1476 https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/filter-by-elevation/5606 https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/add-a-link-to-g…

Thank you very much for the links to the topics that I had not found. Most of them do not directly address my question, but if the calculation from the map has already been rejected, success is unlikely. What a pity. That would have been an interesting analysis. Our national database calculates the…

Thank you very much. A great workaround! I can work well with it.

Elevation distribution of species

General

DianaStuder May 25, 2025, 7:52am 5

(not using elevation) but the
Geomodel Anomaly has 14.7K mosses

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Elevation distribution of species

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