I primarily focus on conifer ID. There are several users who regularly upload photos taken from vehicles, sometimes obviously moving vehicles. Photos are wide angle and take in many species. The observations sometimes come with a species ID though it’s rarely possible to make even a genus ID from the photo.
Should I just ignore or can you suggest a constructive (and hopefully effective) way of encouraging them to take a little more trouble?
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Is it possible that even though you believe the trees in the images are not ID-able to the species level, perhaps an observer might know the species really well, even in terms of how it looks from a distance, and they may also be aware of what grows in that area well enough to have a pretty good or excellent idea of what it is they are shooting from the moving vehicle?
You can always just ask them in a comment, “How did you ID-ed this tree?”
The observer should also at least jot down in Notes that “this observation is for the tree in the middle”, or “the tallest of these trees” or something like, that so you can tell which tree they mean.
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I will take obs of invasive species (e.g. Arundo donax) when I am a passenger in a moving vehicle. My photos sometimes will not be good enough for someone to ID to species from the photo alone (although the photos are not so bad you can’t narrow it to a handful species) because I am moving fast or the plant is in the background. But I only ID as Arundo donax when I feel I can confidently ID it at that time or am photographing after ID’ing the same plants after previously stopping the car (because I tend to monitor the same plant at the same location over time to see if it has been treated and is coming back). I do this because there are several groups where I live that track Arundo donax so they can manage it if the groups know where the invasive plant is located. I do not always have time to stop to take a photo or it is not safe to stop sometimes – so photographing from a moving car is often the only option for me.
I agree that asking “How did you ID this tree?” is a good option. I would be happy to answer that question from someone else and it makes sure my ID is good.
I also agree that commenting about the observation is a good practice. Circling or pointing to the plant in the photo would help too.
But I also welcome input from others about whether it is better to just not submit the observation at all if the photo does not turn out well when taken from a moving car.
EDIT: @andrewtree Thanks for submitting your first Forum post. Welcome.
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I take photos from moving vehicles, but usually of trees that are covered in Ivy, ID-ing only the ivy, or areas of Phragmites australis. I figure that both the ivy and the Phragmites are easy enough for others to ID even when the photo is not superb.
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may not be an option for them. Unless they provide convincing reasons in notes, I would scroll past.
But, if iNatters want a supporting ID ‘we’ need to see enough detail to be able to agree.
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I definitely think it’s a good idea to comment to ask for more info. This may help them make better observations in the future. Especially for people making their first observations of things they are less familiar with (like me with plants!) it isn’t always clear what constitutes a “good” or useful observation with sufficient detail, etc.
I also think it’s worth saying if you don’t think it’s IDable and putting a comment why or what characters would be needed to make the ID. This will help them target future IDs (and they may not submit observations of some things if they know there isn’t enough info in the pic to ID).
That said, it’s fine for them to make any observations, even low quality ones, so I don’t think that they should be discouraged from posting. You’re also free not to ID at all and move right by without spending any of your time on them when it’s frustrating!
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This may well be true at least some of the time.
Never happens with the observers I’m referring to.
I hear a purpose to your observations that it certainly not apparent in those of the users I am referring to!
an issue that I’m sure must have been debated here on many occasions.
Thank you
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I’ve assumed that the community input was an integral and essential part the iN purpose.
I’ve been working under the assumption that observations should always be submitted such that an iNatter with some experience/expertise could make an informed assessment of the ID.
I’m hearing that this is not necessarily so.
Thanks for all the comments.
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Yes, some people might submit observations just to keep track of them for themselves, a life list, etc. There are lots of observations with no photos that people make for this reason (they just aren’t seen as much because they don’t show up in Identify based on the default filters).
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I try a comment along the lines of “I cannot ID this from this photo. I would need [closer image, better image focus, xyz specific plant features].” Then I hit reviewed and move along.
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Thank you.
Curious to hear what sort of responses you get? Some comments above suggest that there is no obligation on the observer to make the photo recognizable by anyone else. To me this seems inconsistent with what iN is all about!
We each have different ways of using iNat.
Mr Fab is putting up new species which have not yet been formally described (by him)
Someone put up a picture of fuzzy red, which is a dragonfly, but difficult to ID further.
Both are valid and accepted obs on iNat.
You in turn, when IDing, can choose whether to engage, to spend time - or mark as reviewed, next please.
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99.9% of the time, no response. Very rarely they will say something like, “I’ll go back for more pics later.”
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It is worth mentioning that if you really believe no one else will be able to ID the photo either, you can add whatever ID you feel comfortable with (like “conifers” or even “vascular plants”) and then mark “no, it’s as good as it can be” at the bottom of the DQA. For observations whose community ID is higher than family, that will make them go to casual grade. It is polite to leave a comment explaining what you did and why, because the user won’t be notified automatically.
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You can politely ask them if they would do that in future.
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It is what iNat is about, it’s about person and their observation, others may or may not be able to prove what the observed was.
There’re good examples of using photos from vehicles by the way: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/bam-records-from-the-train
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And don’t forget about Road iNatting!
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I didn’t know it existed! Wow, I need it!
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