I wondered whether there is information on the network architecture of past and present CV models employed by iNaturalist. It would be interesting to learn how the approach has evolved over time and how iNaturalist differs (or doesn’t) from similar platforms. There are some update posts on this forum, but I guess it would be easy to miss some in between updates(?) and it is not always clear what changed over time (i.e., whether a model was re-trained with more images or re-designed)… is there some kind of Wiki?
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There are iNat blog posts - but not easy to find the one you want. You can search - but you have to remember exactly what words were used in the title. Or scroll …
Start here?
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Some milestones:
2017 May 12: Initial CV model covering 17,246 species (this may have been the data selection date).
2017 December: Second CV model release: https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/12981-vision-suggestion-updates
2020 March: Fifth CV model release. This post details how the CV selection criteria were changed. The first three CV models used a “species model” approach where taxa qualified if they had images from RG observations by at least 20 observers. The subsequent CV models used a “leaf model” approach, where the qualification criteria were at least 100 verifiable observations and at least 50 with a community ID: https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/31806-a-new-vision-model
2022 April: New model release (v1.0) with tweaks to selection criteria (threshold based on 100 photos not 100 observations; maximum of 5 photos from any one observation; prioritize wider range of observations): https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/63931-the-latest-computer-vision-model-updates
2022 August: First model release (v1.1) using transfer learning strategy:
https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/69193-new-computer-vision-model
2023 February: Release of CV model v2.1, the first one based on fresh training (rather than transfer learning) since v1.0: https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/75633-a-new-computer-vision-model-v2-1-including-1-770-new-taxa
2023 September: Introduction of iNaturalist Geomodel: https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/84677-introducing-the-inaturalist-geomodel
2025 January 5: Release of iNat CV model 2.18 covering 97,352 taxa. Includes a chart plotting training and release dates vs. taxon count for all models since v1.0: https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/104015-new-computer-vision-model-v2-18-with-nearly-1-500-new-species
[Edited to add and clarify detail]
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