Ideas for a revamped Explore/Observations Search Page

I’ve worked around this frustrating issue a few times by actually resizing my browser window to make the resulting “redo search in map area” polygon squarer or even taller than wide. Not an ideal solution. I’d still like to be able to draw a simple polygon (square or rectangle of dimensions of my choosing) for the “redo”.

1 Like

Bacteria, archea and viruses should not included in the “unknown” category in search and on the map, not only does it make no sense but it’s actually actively annoying when your going through unknowns to help them along

1 Like

You may be interested in this feature request:
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/create-iconic-taxa-for-bacteria-archaea-and-viruses/1464/15

You exclude these from unknown searches for the time being.

2 Likes

If you don’t want these to be included, you can replace “iconic_taxa=unknown” in the URL with “identified=false”.

2 Likes

I would really love it if you could sort your species observations by rarity (defined by total number of iNat observations for that species).

1 Like

That’s not definitive for rarity, though, I can name tons of fly species that are incredibly common but under observed. Same with leafhoppers.

Instead of “rarity,” using “least observed” would be better.

3 Likes


Agreed. I wanted to get a sense of when butterflies would start appearing in our area as temperatures warm up. I used the list view on the explore screen filtered for butterflies and month of March. When I sorted on the date, the sort is by year, month, day which makes it difficult to find early dates in a month. For the purpose of early and late dates for any species it would be useful to be able to sort by day across all years. With this view you would get a list of, in my example, all March observations starting on March 1 and ending March 31.

2 Likes

I need a way to preserve filtering options.

I often go to the Explore page and set a search for plants (1) from a specific project involving my area (2), that have photos (3), are in the “needs id”/“research grade” status (4) and are not my observations (5).

It seems that I need to set all these things each time, because no memory of previous uses of the Explore page is preserved.
I wish it could at least remember my last search settings (this is the easier fix) or that there was a simple way to save a particular set of filters for subsequent use (this would be the best feature, because there might be multiple search configurations I would like to use on a frequent basis).

Thanks.

You also can use bookmarks now or save preferred link in you account description.

2 Likes

I have a folder of iNat bookmarks for when I have tweaked the URL to suit me.

1 Like

Thank you. That’s what I would do while on the browser, but my current use of the service is most of the time on the mobile app (Android).

I should have specified that perhaps. :-)

This topic is specifically for the web interface. If you want, you can vote on the existing request for sticky search filters in the app: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/set-sticky-default-parameters-in-apps-explore-tab/4786

3 Likes

It’s been closed after 60 days, etc.

I do that (bookmark specific URL filters), but with an INat journal post. That way it’s tied to the site, and not the local folder in whatever device I am on.

1 Like

I originally thought Location and Place filters were the same, but they are not, which can be demonstrated by searching for Commons Ford Ranch Metropolitan Park. That doesn’t seem to be selectable in the Location box, but is selectable in the Place field. Instead of that park name, specific trails are available in the Location field, but number of characters that can be typed may be limited. A popup of apparently 5 maximum hits is produced, and you can select from those. Unfortunately, for these example names, they all look the same because the field width is too small. You can hover over each entry for a full name.

This partial name search is useful, but the width of the field should use available space more effectively. I feel certain there are other location names that are similarly long. Also, why are the names that are available in the location field not available in the place field? Are they tapping into different databases?

Mostly, I’d like a redesign to accommodate long names and result popups that accommodate more than 5 entries. I see the comment that the layouts should be mobile friendly. It’s possible to do that yet still provide more space for field names when more space is available. Don’t keep components small to accommodate mobile at the expense of a full screen experience.

Because place is a created iNat place and location is a Google set location.

4 Likes

Echoing what others have said here and in other threads, I’d love for there to be some way to search for endemic species in a specific region. We already have native, captive, wild and introduced on the explore page, so why not endemic?
I’m often looking for rare endemics in my area and have yet to find a way to make this search a little easier.

3 Likes

When you click on an observation in Explore, it opens it in the same page instead of in a new tab. Then when you go back to the Grid screen after looking at the observation, it takes you back to the top of that page instead of keeping your spot. I would love if the observations opened in a new tab like they do in Identify mode.

1 Like

As a retired Field Biologist, I always had to make Observed Lists of animals and at times a plant list. As an Entomologist, I was intimately aware that these areas were going to be developed. Therefore, I captured insects, mounted them and ID’d them with all the relevant information required for the tag that would be put on each specimen, location name, GPS, Collector, date, Etc. I many times also photographed specimens in the field. So, my LISTS would included Observed, mounted and live field photos. The Current Lists does not allow me to to see what I placed on each Project, by Taxa of MY photos and my observations. Currently, my collecting trays have ~12,000 mounted specimens and wet specimens.
The ‘List’ is a more personal way for my to see how my 20+ year field times reflects what I can provide to the members of iNaturalist. Right now my only was I see I cam able to upload photos and photos of mounted specimens by Projects is by creating a ‘Project’ for every one I did over the year. However, from what I understand a created ‘Project’ will allow others to add to it instead of if being my personal fieldwork for others to enjoy as well as helping others, of what was seen in a specific area, and if other members live near, some of my specimens may help those for identification.

Michael Klein

1 Like

I think you can choose the settings of a project to restrict who can add to it.

3 Likes