does any Android phone’s camera app actually record an accuracy value or something equivalent to the photo file? others have said that the camera app in iPhones will capture a horizontal positioning error, but i’ve never heard of the equivalent in an Android camera app.
on my Android phone, the stock camera app definitely does not record an accuracy value, and the app for my Panasonic camera doesn’t record that either. the iNat Android app can record an accuracy value, but it stores it only in the observation, not in the metadata of the photo file itself (although the coordinates are stored in the file metadata).
who knows exactly what a location accuracy value means for any given observation? is it supposed to represent a radius of uncertainty within which the observer is located? a radius of uncertainty within which the subject is located? the distance between the observer and the subject? radius within which a subject moved? radius within which the observer moved? is it the iNat app default accuracy value based on how far you zoomed in when you manually placed your observation on the map? is it a guesstimate of the error of the map used to place the coordinates? is it a guesstimate of the typical accuracy or error of your GPS device? is it an actual measurement from your GPS device? is it Android’s definition of horizontal accuracy (~68% chance that the device is within the radius)? is it Apple’s definition of horizontal accuracy (the radius of uncertainty for the location, where uncertainty threshold is not publicly defined, except that it is supposed that it is at least as accurate as Android’s definition)? is it something else or a mix of the above?
my point about capturing good locations is more about methodology. recorded locations – both coordinates and accuracy values – are only as good as the methods used to record them. bad method produce bad locations. good methods produce good locations. the presence or absence of an accuracy value tells you nothing about whether the methods used were good or bad. a low recorded accuracy value tells you nothing about whether the methods used were good or bad and whether or not you should really trust the values. you can look at this post to see what i mean: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/location-accuracy-too-easily-bypassed/18547/31.