Observation Field Standardization - wiki

General
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The Similar Observation Set field is useful when creating multiple observations of the same organism. I’ve used it for multiple observations of toads & tadpoles in the same pond during the year. It could also be used when multiple people observe the same organism. Here is a link:

Using the field “Similar Observation Set” for linking observations of lepidoptera when raising on

I have used the roadkill field but maybe the newer field of Likely cause of death? = Vehicle would be better as that has been used on more observations.

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I’ve used Bone(s) & Bone type. Neither of the sign fields have an option for bones.

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Oh good, thank you for finding this wiki. I’d also be ok with adding bones to that animal sign and song field but it does already have ‘remains’ and maybe for bones you’d want the added detail of that other field anyway

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Are these fields translated into other languages? Or is this only for English users?

I know that some fields populate the Annotations, e.g. Insect Life Stage, but does it do that only in English? Are there equivalent fields in other languages? Do all fields have to be duplicated for each language, or are they translated so the field will only appear once in whatever language the user is using?

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There is no translation

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Thanks, Chris.

Perhaps the title should be changed then to Observation Field Standardization (English).

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I have been asked to help with a project for monitoring Baobabs.
When do I use an existing observation field and when do I create my own (I may even have a field already that I have forgotten about).
Trunk circumference - there are 26 observation fields for this (using circumference as a search), All of them appear to be trunk (but most say “tree”, only one says stem and a few trunk) and many state that it should be breast height/1.3m/4.5ft and units are in and cm, but I want m (metres - these are Baobabs!). - Many of them would do me fine, but which one should I choose? Would I be interfering with someone else’s data if I used them (their filters and indices may not cater for my joint use)?
Ditto: Height (m) - easy enough, but the display text for the field is absent, and I would prefer it to explain what is required.
Ditto: Crown Diameter - but I specifically want it E-W, rather than maximum diameter.

Is it possible to see which are these are Darwin Core and open for all to use??
In the end it is easiest to just create my own variables. BUT: what is it doing to the indexing of the system.

I appreciate that the programmers dont have time to look at this, but might it be worthwhile setting up an Observation Fields curation team? Just to weed out redundancy where creators are happy to do so, and to provide some guidelines and standardization going forward.

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I think it is a good idea. Maybe it is better not to weed out redundancy but to start with adding new observation fields that already exists. Mopping with the tap open?

I like this post Vetgedrukte teksthttps://inaturalist.nz/pages/extra_fields_nz#Substrate

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There are fields created in other languages. I see several created today about nesting, in Spanish: Transportando Material para el nido - Nido en construcción - Nido ocupado - and several more

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have not read the entire thread, but this seemed the appropriate place to propose certain common fields for fungi, which, if they exist on the site, often have as many as several dozen iterations created by as many unique users. that strikes me as highly inefficient, and should be rectified. easy for me to say, hopefully not terribly difficult to implement for those with the power and expertise to do so.

Habitat:
Host/Substrate:
Collector(s):
Collection #:
GenBank Accession #(s):
Fungarium Record(s):

I’ll add that Mushroom Observer (where I spent over a decade as a near-constant curator of all site data) provided the option for users to set their preferred fields for inclusion in an observation upload template, appearing each time one wished to create a new observation. This functionality would be highly useful here, rather than having to not only enter those fields anew with each post, but also to be sure that the fields chosen are the correct ones from any number of close lookalikes.

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You can do this with a traditional project, and make the fields optional or required.