On this forum, I have read and I was told that there is no open API to the CV model
(e.g., this answer; however, the same person also stated in the same thread that this is something they are talking and thinking about and the thread is already three years old, so I think it is reasonable to raise this question again).
Moreover, I have read in some paper (and also here in the Forum) that iNaturalist provides access to its Computer Vision model through API (apparently at https://rapidapi.com/inaturalist-inaturalist-default/api/visionapi/?) for a few “chosen ones”.
Now, I wonder whether and how it is possible to get approval to access this API.
Why would I need that access?
For research. I would like to include iNaturalist in a comparison of current CV models for plant species identification. iNaturalist is a well established platform with a huge community/user basis. Thus, it is reasonable to include the iNaturalist CV model in such a comparison, even though iNaturalist is not a specialist app for plant identification and even though CV identifications here are only a small part of the identification process which also includes community votes and discussion. But these are all considerations for a discussion part.
Uploading a number of images and writing down the suggestions manually is simply not something I could (or would be willing to) do, since it takes a lot of time, even for small data sets. (I am not planning to keep the iNaturalist API busy with thousands of requests per day, but even for lower two-digit numbers of requests per day, it is simply not manageable to make a standardised comparison of 4 to 6 CV models and write down results manually.)
The second question is usually: “Why would one need more studies if there are so many studies about the iNat CV model already?”
- We want to focus on a specific region. The performance of CV models varies considerably between regions of the world.
- Some of the studies published so far have been criticized (e.g., in this forum). Some used small test data sets. Many are not about plants. Finally, CV models evolve over time. If you want to know about the current state of CV, you don’t read a paper that is 3 or more years old.
So… what is the current state of the CV API policies? What is planned for the future?
And how and where would I apply to use the CV model?