Apologies for the “web” tag, it was intended to be Apple ios app, but on iphone, scrolling that low is impossible (the entry is beyond scrolling range).
Anyway, I have been making lots of observations via the app, and have largely avoided duplicates through memory. There will soon come a point where my memory will not be capable of remembering all, and I wondered if the app could be configured to flag such duplicates before one commits to creation ? If not already available, would anyone support this as a useful feature for the app ?
i believe it should be possible for a scan/search of the DB on something like “species name” + “submitter” to return a simple response which would then flag as “Duplicate entry” and offer to do one of 3 actions :-
- Discard
- Add any new photos/recordings to existing observation (this would be the toughest to implement)
- Create new observation anyway (note that this SHOULD then be created with a warning - potential duplicate observation, to ensure reviewers are made aware.
The third one should also hopefully promote good practice and behaviour.
Thank you
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/duplicate-prevention-notify-observers-if-their-image-checksums-match-others-on-the-site/258
Feb 2019. 108 votes.
You can use your Calendar to check obs for that day - that is what I use when I come across duplicates as I ID.
Corrected tag issue noted by OP
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Hi Diana
I am afraid i do not agree this is resolved, the solution suggested would not prevent any given example of duplicate observations. Example, I come across a plant in 6 month’s time and create a duplicate observation since I did not remember creating the original. I am not sure how consulting a calendar could possibly resolve this ?
This is about making sure the database is clean, and does not contain duplicate observations from the same submitter. I do not know if it is possible to create an observation without uploading any photo or recording (defeats the object, but the point here is can this technically be done ?), if so, then even the suggestion I have seen to use the checksum of the photo or recording would not work.
Surely each possible entry has a unique identifier ? The check for duplicate observations as opposed to photos would need to use this unique ID and run a search with the submitter unique ID. This would either produce a yes or no response. If the response is yes (i.e. there is a match), then the above options should thence be provided :-
-
Discard
-
Add any new photos/recordings to existing observation (this would be the toughest to implement)
-
Create new observation anyway (note that this SHOULD then be created with a warning - potential duplicate observation, to ensure reviewers are made aware.
The search would need to be optimized and would obviously run much more quickly if the DB is also clean.
This is the only way I can see to minimize the number of duplicate observations.
Note that this is a separate feature request to identification of duplicate photos or recordings (though somewhat related).
@cthawley If this has not already been submitted as feature request, I would be happy to do so for ios and web.
I did not mark it as solved. As the post author I think you can unclick the tick? Otherwise ask a moderator to do it.
but that is how iNat works. For phenology. Bud. Flower. Fruit. Not a duplicate. You may not combine photos from 2 different dates / locations as one obs.
If you want to see if you already have obs for that sp, go to Your Observations, then search for that sp and all your relevant obs will show up
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?subview=table&user_id=dianastuder&verifiable=any&view=species
Yes - you can upload a (Casual) obs with no photo / sound. People do that for their life list, or as a nature journal record.
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Thanks for clarifying Diana
I guess the point here is if you are out and about, do you have time to do a search for something which may only be there for a split second ? I know when I am using the app now, I create the observation straight away with the initial photo, and then add additional photos via the app itself. I think I would find this unnecessarily difficult if I were to have to search frequently through my existing observations before creating a new one ? I know one can simply create the observation then delete it if is not required, so accept there are manual workarounds. I guess what this is about is for the system to provide a foolproof way of avoiding (or at least being informed of) duplicate observations on your account.
Regards
Bill
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