iNaturalist Computer Vision Ranking and Combined Observations

Computer Vision is a tool (one of multiple), and how you use it in this case depends on circumstances. Are you familiar with lizards? Can you (or better yet, have you) identified species of lizards? Have you seen this particular lizard before? If you are unfamiliar with lizards, or if this lizard is new to you, it’s probably best to ignore the CV’s specific suggestions and make a more general suggestion. The CV may or may not know more about this lizard than you do.

If you guess a species of lizard, and your guess is wrong, the observation is just one ID away from becoming an incorrect Research Grade observation. Once it becomes RG, the chances that the error will be discovered and corrected become very small.

As others have noted, if you use the website to upload photos, you can (and should) apply the CV to each photo of the lizard. (I don’t know if the phone apps have this capability, but based on other responses, apparently they do.) If the CV claims that it is “pretty sure” the lizard is in genus X in all three photos, then you could guess genus X and see what happens. In that case, resist the urge to agree with the first species-level ID that comes along. Let someone else confirm the ID.

I routinely apply the CV to every photo I upload, regardless of what I know about the organism. This helps me understand the CV’s strengths and weaknesses, and lets me use it more effectively.

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