If I search for the rare lily Calochortus tiburonensis, the distribution I see is a very unnatural and incorrect rectangular pattern, with many observations inside San Francisco Bay or the Pacific Ocean.
Can anyone explain why this is happening?
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Observations of this location are automatically obscured. See FAQs here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/help#geoprivacy
https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/help#obscured
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Any rare or protected species is automatically obscured into a random location within 0.2 degrees latitude and longitude of its real location, and that is what is displayed to users.
That works out to a box roughly 22 * 22 kilometers depending on how close to the equator you are. Sometimes that random location ends up in the ocean or on water.
It is likely the real location is highly concentrated leading to such a clean box.
You can read more about it here :
https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/help#geoprivacy
EDIT - or you can just read what Tony said above me…
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I finally saw this plant for the first time a few months ago, and yes, it only is in one park. Which is not a secret. It’s a pretty sweet plant, I must say.
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