Export by observation ID number URL blank CSV

Bug Reports
1

Please fill out the following sections to the best of your ability, it will help us investigate bugs if we have this information at the outset. Screenshots are especially helpful, so please provide those if you can.

Platform (Android, iOS, Website): Website

Browser, if a website issue (Firefox, Chrome, etc) : Chrome

URLs (aka web addresses) of any relevant observations or pages: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/?reviewed=any&quality_grade=any&id=168701017,168358931,131737455,166645310,163566702,168361335,169115711,167175587,169050918,164284557,137091444,63422571,117231086,135420498,116287147,63328621,137216907,137424667,89638829,63422566,63328413,137091437,140608677,140644424,137312917,118051076,126733888,162808933,162887927,168872656,162808789,148029993,162809190,150407945,164283534,167121654,158365115,159485844,157892749,156400134,140606160,149262289,135919406,131075138,137299093,133066012,165514899,128645727,129294256,133947318,158365109,162964651,162808515,162808416,158365121,159485844,154693345,157781088,162809442,157781064,158365138,163168125,149262435,163791080,170451047,168496837,170448845,168362288,164544928,170451595,148212863,143220120,129006328,170450835,170449739,170451158,129008365,169185512,169295609,169311095,169588226,169289410,170185304,170187787,169311813,170136568,169692186,170185141,170203657,169693109,170135631,158940059,158750128,162858717,158744490,158939250,156752729,158739632,158938394,158733644,157819904,169295674,169294288,166148728,169291119,169291229,170450608,169302756,166150265,165893169,165893171,170187972,162856132,162892488,162892484,162036109,161907988,161894684,159426687,161829196,161828218,161827647,154296498,154002062,153866770,138715577,170449449,153976269,153977269,156271852,153971747,155018552,161827020,161825252,161824571,161727730,160384835,160384829,158948050,170451489,160384827,160384828,162872080,170474401,163225963,170474186,170474284,165542429,170448962,165893145,165893144,165540782,165893159,165940925,170450184,165545660,165506300,165509671,162861525,162876546,163149460,163111837,162972364,162999860,162864733,162870624,162864062,161548543,161550497,140604515,131645760,148437442,161550649,158126057,81560723,158126694,158126398,149261872,95493580,65043520,95493558,93042431,149262609,140609751,140609801,149263112,149262081,140609272,140608740,149262933,149261623,149262031,140605165,93042614,149262203,165514592,127114058,134893683,133949114,134187756,165514970,165515432,165514699,165514480,164284095,164467330,164899903,162229598,164893175,149262478,162809596,162808706,145292640,157781074,169207857,164929687,166391657,162809393,140609587,149262838,166391646,170566669,141932526,149262554,149262122,162808863,158127979,169757989,147569927,158127106,170057671,172484237,158365174,172484091,84038723,158126894,166391604,162809315,169275449,132569998,166391584,140605249,158128952,166391639,162809689,144432296,162809474,162809557,166391623,162809356,162964491,160677629,162808905,169200259,162809094,162808990,166391651,168224976,166918525,168169107,166391660,168225892,169098419,168222728,169167902,168225687,168223202,166918909,168224335,169199701,166919316,169199258,169173422,169178158,168228274,168223867,168146370,169192631,168231680,169198592,169167727,166918798,166919094,168225338,174588851,173523725,173523723,173523724,173523733,174588933,173093838,173093839,173523728,174588826,174588830,172784391,172784750,172784882,173093834,172785456,173093833,173093835,172785336,172785069,172785144,174588877,174588941,174588947,172785277,174988927,174588936,174588900,170925026,172543719,170924896,155694448,174196528,170504488,171445902,171318776,171314179,171319185,171311944,171312356,171312884,171320738,171320346,146314372,169780494,169776879,169771876,169772638,169707384,169703287,169772745,169780791,169777030,169775063,169776612,169780085,169779691,169777333,171320175,171324737,171324124,171325129,171322479,173574701,174194108,173617413,171360477,173636462,174195847,174194906,170925313,170758482,171656669,171657081,171658005,171657552,171859584,171822039,171822043,171822037,171822035,172682798,172685824,172688591,172691638,172728588,172728591,172728595,172728597,172728603,172728605,172728606,172728607,172728611,172728616,172728617,172728618,172728622,172728623,172728625,172728626,172728630,172728633,172728641,172728642,172728644,171655739,169739448,171322915,171323463,171326011,171325609,169773933,165441676,169773070,169774845,169773683,164356544,169773216&verifiable=any

Description of problem (please provide a set of steps we can use to replicate the issue, and make as many as you need.):

Step 1: Click the link above to see the 402 observations I’d like to export metadata for

Step 2: click “filters” → “download”

Step 3: See that the preview says “1-0 of 0” and click “create export” which returns a CSV file with only the headers of the metadata selected.

I have several thousands of records whose metadata i need from observation ID nubmer.

I am probably missing something obvious here. Any help is appreciated. Thank you,

2

Welcome to the forum! It looks like you can’t get info on multiple observations strung together like that. Where did you get that link?

3

Hi Thomas, I made the URL from the the list of iNat observation numbers from the datasets I am working with. There is nothing that is unique uniting these observations (in iNat) so I do not know of another way to get this data to export from iNat since I have several thousand (and growing) which really isn’t feasible to do manually.

Any advice or alternative ideas are appreciated. Thank you,

4

You can make a traditional project for these observations. You’d have to add each one manually, but if you’re already manually recording observation numbers anyway a project could be less work. I don’t do a lot with downloading data so I’m not sure what the best solutions are.

5

You can also use the API to download data for a list of observation IDs I would think, but that would require some programming skills.

6

Hi @thomaseverest I am not manually recording observation numbers but have a database of specimens submitted for DNA barcoding which have now been processed. We may be able to figure out something going forward but I have thousands already submitted to pull data from. If there is a better place to ask for pointers on this let me know.

@cthawley, I will look into this as I can usually bumble through some programming. Thanks,

7

There are a lot of threads about the API on the forum, so I would bet you can find some answers there (or help if you run into trouble). If you have some skills here, I would guess it is the most efficient way! Hope the project goes well.

1 Like
8

i think going forward, you would want to either use an observation field that is unique to your effort (ex. OMDL_voucher=OMDL00001) or use an additional observation field which you set to a particular value that is unique to your effort (ex. voucher_set=OMDL). alternatively, or in addition to that, it may be useful to include these in a specific traditional project, as thomaseverest suggested above.

once you have a unique observation field, field value, or project, then you will be able to use the unique field, field value, or project to filter for your entire set of records, rather than filtering for individual observation IDs.

so then what to do about all the observation records that have already been processed? you could use the API to update those records with a new field, field value, and/or project.

here’s quick description of generally how to execute multiple API POST requests via curl in Windows command line / batch: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/unsubscribe-from-multiple-items-at-one-time-on-subscriptions-page/33728/6. you could follow this general process if you use Windows, too, or you adapt it for bash or R or whatever other scripting tool you want to use.

here and in subsequent posts in the same thread, i’ve described specifically how to add/remove observations from a project using Windows command / batch: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/bulk-selection-of-observations-to-add-to-a-project/1747/70.

i haven’t previously made an example for adding observation fields or field values, but the curl command for this sort of action should look something like this: curl -X POST "https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/observation_field_values" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Authorization: JWT" -d "{\"observation_field_value\": {\"observation_id\": 0, \"observation_field_id\": 0, \"value\": "\string\"}"

1 Like