Is there a way to refer to your observations using a URL? So for instance you might be chatting with someone and want to tell them that "I have a number of observations of Pohlia nutans here, and you want to put the URL type thing in that last place.
Thanks!
Are you on mobile? Android or Apple?
On the website at least you can type [text](link) to do this, but replace ‘text’ with whatever you want to display it as and replace ‘link’ with the URL of the page you want to link to
Each individual observation has a URL, which I can see. (I use the website.) I copy and paste that when I want to have a correspondent see the observation. Is that what you mean?
Yes, but is the link permanent?
Anywhere. I could be at anyone of those places. I can control where I write from if it matters that much. Seems if there isn’t an invariant link it’s hard to communicate and share it. You’d like a reference that could be put in a paper and was good indefinitely.
Yes, they are (bar the observation being deleted or iNaturalist itself going defunct). For multiple observations you could probably play with the search URL parameters to get what you want (observer, place, taxa, etc.).
Yes, the URLs can be treated as permanent identifiers (they are used as such when a RG observation goes to GBIF.org).
I’m confused at your answer? I was literally just asking because the way you access the observation # is different if you’re on the web versus on one of the mobile apps.
But yes, you can permalink things. The number at the end of the link inaturalist.org/observations/ is the observation # and serves as a permanent market. If you want to access that number on mobile, you scroll down to the meta data and the number is to the right of ‘ID’
EDIT: you can also link to say, all of your observations of a certain taxa. Go to your observations, type in the taxa under species, hit go, and then just copy that link.
nothing is permanent on the internet, but any numeric observation ID in iNat will probably outlast any chat message you have with someone. i don’t know if the numeric ID will be the primary ID used by iNaturalist 10 years from now (or if the UUID or some other system will become the primary ID), but i would think that any numeric ID that had already been created would most likely still be accessible using that numeric ID, even if was no longer the primary ID.
here’s a previous discussion about the permanence of observation IDs: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/is-the-observation-number-permanent/11887
It’s stable enough so far. I mean, it hasn’t changed over a few years. I hope it doesn’t; I put observation # on plant specimen labels.
Filter your observations and select the prefered view, then copy the URL, for instance:
Sometimes, the URL can be simplified without changing the result:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=154170&user_id=ecoquant
Thanks to everyone for the help!
Some thought about the original question and the candidate answers indicates this is a bigger problem than it first seems, After all what is minimum description for any biological encounter, Should we all just resign ourselves to filling shelves in basements with appropriately indexed and documented and dried bryophyte specimens? Why not their spores?
Only half serious …
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