Where does iNat stand on multiple sightings. For instance, you may be on a saffari and see (and photograph) elephants every day in different locations. Does iNat want this information as a single sighting every time or should you add one or two photos and say in the notes that you saw them every day?
I believe each sighting would be separate as the day and location are different, and that the observations be linked.
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Were you thinking they should be linked using the Similar Observation Set observation field, @Thunderhead ?
That is such a cool way to link Observations together, with many uses, as discussed in that thread.
@Pande I just started a new Similar Observation Set (caterpillar with construct, one I had never seen) yesterday, but here is a “complete” Similar Observation Set" I made.
(Honestly, I ought to use that tool more.)
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I see you also did “previous” links in the observation’s Notes. That’s cool, too.
Another idea would be to add “next” links after the whole process is complete.
But, linking them in the Observation Fields…I want to do that! I need to find something…some process…
I think I did those in some because I learned about Similar Observation Set here on the Forum during those Observations.
My process so far for linking them in the Observation Fields is to use the number of the first Observation as the number for all my linked Observations using the Similar Observation Set feature.
For the OP, she could name her trip, I suppose? And have all Observations from a particular trip. Or any such. (I am not sure, I have not explored beyond numerical value.)
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Each individual sighting of an organism can be uploaded as its own observation (and different individuals from different locations/days shouldn’t be combined). The focal individual should be present in all the media for the observation. Generally, one observation max per individual organism per day is a good guideline (though their might be some exceptions if the individual changes significantly like dying, metamorphosing, etc.). You are under no obligation to observe at that frequency though - do what you like!
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https://help.inaturalist.org/en/support/solutions/articles/151000192921-how-to-make-an-observation
How to Make an Observation
" An observation records an encounter with an individual organism at a particular time and location."
If you see a number of an organism together, you could make a note of that in the “comments”
I’d say separate them out into as many observations as you want to. Multiple individuals seen at the same place and time, multiple sightings of the same individual at different times, etc. are all different “observations”.
Logistically, I’d rather see observations separated more than lumped together, because in the event that one individual is misidentified, having that one lumped into an observation with other species is difficult to deal with. Probably not a problem with something like elephants, but with insects and plants, I frequently see observations with 5 pictures of similar-looking organisms with the caption “5 individuals observed”, but the 5 pictures in fact show different species that the observer mistook for all being the same. If they’re all uploaded as different observations, they can easily be identified individually, but if they’re all in one, it becomes necessary to ask the observer to split things up and re-upload, and possibly end up downvoting the “single subject” DQA if there’s no response. This has helped me out before with plant IDs- I’ve uploaded 10+ observations of what I believed to be the same species from the same place and time, and those with keener eyes than mine have picked out a different species in one of the photos that I didn’t notice was different. If I’d put everything in the same observation from the whole day thinking they were the same species, the mistake may not have even been noticed.
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