I’ve been using Seek for about a year, and I’ve had a lot of fun with it, but I just realized it was in the iNaturalist family, and I think all the extra features in the full iNaturalist are awesome. However, I do really miss the real-time ID feature of Seek.
Is using Seek to make an observation and then uploading it to iNaturalist the best way to go? It seems like a good way to do it because then you start out with an initial ID.
There’s no best way, just do what you like to! I never use iNat app to make observations other than occasional audio, using regular camera app and then uploading in free time using phone or laptop for me is much easier and faster than using app, so you see it’s all personal and if you like how you do what you do, then keep it the same way!
I’ve found Seek to be slow and unwieldy, but that’s probably just my phone. Seek’s auto-id feature is wrong a lot of the time, and you can’t browse other taxa to see if it’s right (unless you can and I just haven’t seen that yet). The website has a lot more features when uploading as well.
If you go the route that @fffffffff mentioned (and which I do) - which is to upload the photo (taken either with a camera or my smartphone) to iNat using the online site - then there will be a suggestion for what iNat’s computer vision thinks it is. Depending on the photo and the organism, that suggestion can be quite useful. I use it either to check myself on what I think something is. Or I use it as a starting point if I don’t know what the organism is. I can go to a higher taxon for the suggestion (just to be 'safe) or I can look at the top few suggestions and start an investigation on my own.
So you’re not without some resources at upload time. I’ve never used Seek (and I don’t use the iNat app) so I can’t compare it to the iNat, online site upload process.
But the simplest answer is - do what works for you. Everyone has their own process, needs, limitations, etc.
edit to add, keep in mind, that is not an ‘initial id’ that Seek is giving you. It’s an initial ‘suggestion’. :-)
I noticed someone today uploaded what seems to be a screengrab off Seek into the iNat app.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/83201813
Seemed like a practical solution to having the best of both worlds.
There’s a much easier way to do the same thing; Seek has a functionality that allows you to upload your images directly to iNat.
I agree there are any number of ways to use iNat, so choose one you like.
I tried Seek a while back and I found it very slow and inaccurate. I use the iPhone iNat app. I use the phone to snap a picture, edit it if needed, and upload it using the phone app. During upload, the app grabs the location/date info for the picture and offers IDs from the Computer Vision. Or, I snap a pictures (editing, if needed) and use the either the phone or the iPad to upload via the iNat website. The website uploaded doesn’t always work well with my mobile devices, though.
Once, they are uploaded (whichever way), I then use the website for any further monitoring or updates.
Ah right - I thought that wasn´t an option for some reason.
Good to know. Not used Seek yet.
I do the same, basically because when you take a photo with your phone editing it can help to make the specimen more easy to spot and even you can play a little with the features to highlight a characteristic that can help to get a better ID in the obvs.
Many concur that the iPhone iNat app isn’t the best and lack some functionality, I only use it to upload and sometimes get a broader ID if I’m not sure about what I’m IDing.
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