Apparently there was a journal post about this that seems to no longer exist, so here’s what the map looks like (smallest zoom possible) as of August 28, 2025:
Higher contrast version (helps show missing squares more clearly):
Obviously the remaining squares will all be very hard (except for the ocean squares which will just take time) but I might take a screenshot again after some time to see if any new squares got filled in.
Excluding the arctic (Greenland, Russia and Canada) and the ocean the countries with missing squares are:
Algeria (3 squares)
Libya (6 squares)
Mauritania (3 squares)
Mali (6 squares)
Niger (5 squares)
Chad (1 square)
Sudan (4 squares)
Saudi Arabia (2 squares)
Yemen (1 square)
China (2 squares)
I always think about this! Not just the missing big squares(4 sq degree I think?), but the smaller ones too. If you zoom in all the way before squares end the smallest squares are 4 sq arcmin.
It would be cool if there was a statistic of how many big squares(4 sq degrees), not as big squares(1 sq degree), and so on until the smallest 4 sq arcmin squares.
in iNaturalist’s “grid” style map, each of the tiles is divided into 32 x 32 cells. the standard web version of the Explore screen sets the minimum zoom level at effectively zoom level 2, which would represent the world in 4 x 4 tiles, which gives you 128 x 128 cells. however, it is possible to see the world a zoom level 0, which would represent the entire world in 1 tile. at that level, the only cells with land that have no observations occur in Antarctica, in the Arctic, and possibly places with mostly ocean and only a few small islands.
if you want to calculate statistics for cells, the easiest way to do this is to use the UTFGrids. here’s something that will show the UTFGrid representation at zoom level 0, including a table that shows how many observations fall in each cell: https://jumear.github.io/stirfry/iNat_UTFGrid_data_interpreter?z=0&x=0&y=0&verifiable=true&spam=false.
that page only allows you to view the map one tile at a time, but if you want to see the UTFGrid representation without the table in a map that is pannable and zoomable, you can view it in another page. here, any cell with at least 1 observation will be highlighted in magenta (although you play with the parameters to visualize the information in other ways): https://jumear.github.io/stirfry/iNat_UTFgrid_based_density_map_for_Leaflet?scale_factor=1&defaultstyle=gradient&defaultzoom=0&verifiable=true&spam=false
Copied the data from this grid data map to Google Sheets (to make the number of empty spaces easier to identify):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vTChwuLiYjVQp14ppBzphHahfS-kCHFSjt3d48v8Of4/edit?usp=sharing
Uh oh
it says this earthball is here:
And this is the only obs. in this square so we’re actually LOSING squares! (Well not really since there are no real observations in this square, but technically so)
note that there are often observations with bad locations near the poles (and also along the prime meridian and equator). also note that the projection used to create maps in iNaturalist will actually exclude a few degrees near the poles. so for example, this observation falls beyond the extent of the base maps: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/179311856. you are able to define and search an area that goes beyond the extent of the representation, but those observations may be excluded from your analysis here because they fall outside of the area that can be represented in this projection.
Inatigami?(like the NFL scorigami)
Ok this is now my favorite Inat tool.
There was an iNat post - their blog maybe - about filling in the missing squares. Maybe someone else has better luck finding it again.
And this project from @bobmcd
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/low-growth-countries-and-territories
The North African gaps are mostly across the Sahara. Where there is Life, but not observed. There are a few projects including https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/sahara-flora
There are only two missing squares on the Arabian peninsula, in Saudi Arabia and Yemen - I don’t see anything missing in Oman. The Saudi side is freely accessible, it’s just difficult to get to.
There was one about Canada, but I don’t remember any for the global missing squares.
Maybe ‘before your time’ I remember it as - encouraging us to help fill in the gaps, if we can. Partly why I work thru the African IDs.
i added a couple things to the page that might be helpful for your use case:
oh oops i thought yemen was oman lol
ill edit it in a minute
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
