Free form selection on the map

General
2

currently, your 3 choices for geographic filtering are:

  1. place (can include multiple places) – ex. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=18,19
  2. rectangle – ex. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=35%3D&nelng=-90&place_id=any&swlat=25&swlng=-100
  3. circle – ex. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?lat=32&lng=-95&radius=500

as a variation on filtering by place, you can also exclude places (ex. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=18&not_in_place=110679 or https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?lat=32&lng=-95&radius=500&not_in_place=110679).

others have requested the ability for more “freeform” geographic selection (ex. https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/ideas-for-a-revamped-explore-observations-search-page/8439/3) or other related functionality (ex. https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/ability-to-search-observations-near-within-range-of-a-place/14986).

that said, based on the use case you’re describing, it sounds like filtering by a place may get you what you need. you would just need to create an appropriate place, if it doesn’t already exist. (if you have questions on how to create a place, feel free to ask. or if you search the forum, i’m sure that topic has been covered in excruciating detail many times.)

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