I tried doing a feature request for a separate Advanced Search page and was told to add my thoughts here, so I’ve posted my feature request below. A separate Advanced Search page would, of course, not have to wait for the Explore page to be rewritten and could be immediately functional for both the Explore and Identify pages as the URL code already exists for such searches. It’s just a matter of making such searches more user-friendly and accessible.
Platform(s), such as mobile, website, API, other:
Website
Description of need:
There currently are a huge amount of advanced searches that can be done via URLs as seen here but there is no easy way to generate these most of these URLs on the iNat website. It’s great that we have these custom URL options already but it would be much better if there were a much easier way to build these URLs, especially for more complicated queries.
Many websites have an “Advanced Search” page. iNat has some limited searching via the Explore and Identify pages that work for many of the most common searches the casual user may want, which is great, but these are inconsistent between the Identify and Explore pages, lack some very basic searches that would be very useful, and of course lack the huge amount of possibilities they could have. A high proportion of people won’t need these more advanced filters, so it is good not to crowd these more basic filters with too many additions. It would, however, be very useful to many users to have an easier way to make the most of the possibilities that the site already has to offer without having to try to custom build their own URLs following a tutorial in a forum.
Feature request details:
I propose that iNaturalist adds an Advanced Search page to the main website. Like many websites, this advanced search would be a large form that presents all the options available for queries. People could then fill out all the search criteria they desire in whatever combination they need and then choose whether it will take them to this query on the Identify or Explore page. This feature would essentially be unlocking features iNat already has to all users by making them much more accessible, intuitive, and easier to use.