Is there a feature that warns me that I have posted the same observation earlier?

[echocreek]

Is there a feature that warns me that I have posted the same observation earlier?

[tiwane]

No, there isn’t.

[thomaseverest]

There is this feature request though:
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/duplicate-prevention-notify-observers-if-their-image-checksums-match-others-on-the-site/258

[echocreek]

thanks for the additional information

[trscavo]

Once I upload a photo to iNaturalist, I tag that photo (and all the photos that go with it) on my hard drive with “iNaturalist”. That makes it more difficult to upload that photo again.

[pisum]

if you’re unsure, you can always just sort by observation date and see if there are any existing observations with roughly the same observation date/time as the photo you’re planning to load.

[DianaStuder]

When IDing I glance at the Recent obs running along the banner at the bottom (I’m sure I have seen that picture before, then I check the time, and leave my copypasta duplicate comment)
Presuming that yours are recent, you can skim down your list of obs.

But it would be better if iNat had a built in - We’ve seen that before here with the linked obs number. This Forum is happy to flag up - you’ve already shared that link in this thread.

[janetwright]

It’s legitimate to post the same image twice (or more) as observations of different organisms in the same image. So it might be useful to tag a duplicate image, but it shouldn’t be rejected.

[t_e_d]

It is better not to post the same image several times, but rather to upload the image once, and then duplicate the observation. You will then have all links to the different observations on the same image, e.g.:

• photo: https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/104452037
• flower: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/64922239
• spider: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/65025945

[Ajott]

Interesting… I did not know that yet

[t7iguy]

Looking at the EXIF data of your photos on your iNat account, you are using Adobe Photoshop Elements to process your images. In Elements you should have a organization feature that allows you to tag and sort images into folders.
Also…If you use Adobe Bridge to view your files, it has a “Label” feature that I use to add a certain color label to the image if it has been posted to iNat.
I will include a screen shot here from Bridge with the green “label” underneath the images indicating that image has been posted to iNat. You can customize the name of the “Label” under Preferences/Labels and Ratings.

[t7iguy]

Also…On an iMac, in “Finder” there is a “Tag” feature and you can add a chosen color tag to your images to indicate that the photo has already been posted. I always use green because that is the color that I use in Adobe Bridge too. See attached screen shot.

[t7iguy]

Tags can be added in “Finder” while you are uploading to iNat too…
Attached is a screen recording of the process.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zMF7m1VZ6EYaTNDeFnj4om5zIju5FsHu/view?usp=sharing

[annkatrinrose]

There actually is an alert, but it’s complicated. I found out about it because I started out on iNaturalist by importing all my Flickr stuff. If you use the import function, it will actually tell you if you try to import the same picture twice (“this image is already associated with an existing observation” or something along those lines). I think it goes by Flickr image ID, so would fail if you have duplicates already on Flickr? And of course it’s extra work, not to mention you need to pay for a Flickr account if you have a lot of pictures.

[echocreek]

Thank you so much for these additional tips and information

[t7iguy]

Sure, no problem. Hope it helps.

[xris]

I use Flickr to host my higher-quality photos, e.g.: macros, and import from there. I get the - extremely helpful! - warning if I forgot I already imported a photo from Flickr to iNaturalist.

I think that only works for importing via a link, since the URL is the identifier.

[matsonburger]

Being guilty of uploading duplicate observations, I have found one way to find them. Utilizing the “Calendar” feature, you can review any observations from any particular day. On the “Grid” view you can see if any identical thumbnail images appear. On the “List” view, duplicates will be found together as the date and time metadata will be identical. This assumes your observations were made with unadulterated metadata. No, I have yet to review each day since 2001, which are the oldest observations I have made.