If I draw a custom boundary around my property, none of the Bombus pensylvanicus show up. They are listed as Vulnerable but when I look at the observation it doesn’t say obscured… But if I query the County I’m in, they show up and if I click on them they are not obscured and they show where they are. This makes no sense to me that I can see the exact location but they don’t show up when I query with a custom boundary and they fall within that custom boundary… And I had an Endangered taxon and it isn’t obscured. Shouldn’t Endangered be obscured. The Endangered taxon is Bombus fraternus. It shows up in my custom boundary. None of this is making sense to me. I do NOT understand how this works. How do I tell if something is obscured when it is MY observation. The words “Obscured” do not show up on the observation page.
There is no custom or tailored view of observation locations on the explore page; locations display the same for you as they do for everyone. Therefore, it will not display true locations on map view for obscured observations or include them in queries with a small area, even if they are your own observations.
There is a feature request to view true locations on maps for observations with trusted hidden coordinates. However, staff stated:
The conservation status may not cause auto-obscuring if the threats do not include pressures that are increased from location disclosure. A little more info is included on this iNatHelp page: What is geoprivacy? What does it mean for an observation to be obscured?
I’m unfamiliar with the threats facing Bombus fraternus myself, but if you feel that threats to this specie are increased from location disclosure, you should place a flag on the taxon page and start a discussion there.
A little eye symbol will appear next to the location description on the observation’s page:
For observations that are not obscured, this shows as a pin:
On the explore page, obscured observations show up as a circle and unobscured observations show up as a pin:
However, the map on the observation itself will show the true location (with an opaque pin; you will also see the obscured location that it has been assigned marked with a translucent pin)
Thank You for explaining. The “eye” on the observations page is most useful. A friend showed me how to get all of my obscured observations using a URL search: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?user_id=jeffhansen&taxon_geoprivacy=obscured
I was surprised how many of my observations were obscured. Might be useful to others.
A bit convoluted, but if you create a collection project with 1) your property as the Place filter and 2) check the box “Allow members to trust this project with hidden coordinates”, you can save it and then adjust “Your Membership” settings to allow the project owner (yourself) to view your obs with hidden coordinates.
Then at least you can see all the obs in one place and get your stats, but they still won’t display the true locations on the main map unfortunately.
Testing with a small place that includes my own backyard, project viewed while logged out:
Project viewed while I’m logged in:
Thank you. I should probably do that.
BTW, it was a mistake that Bombus pensylvanicus was obscured. That has now been fixed and your observation locations should now show correctly to you and others.
Thank you. I always wondered why it’s obscuring over 200 observations.