Place: If it already exists on Google Maps do I need to create it also in iNaturalist?

[frahome]

I am new to iNaturalist. I would like to reference my observation to a specific area that already exists on Google Maps but it is not clear to me if I should also create it as a place in iNaturalist and what the advantages would be (it is an urban green area).

Also it is not clear to me if, when I filter for a place, observations are filtered by the specific polygon representing the area or by the “boundary box” that is a wider area. The second case would be an issues for projects that are looking for biodiversity in a specific area.

Thank you!

[alexis_orion]

when you filter for observations, they are filtered by the polygon.
if you want you can filter observations by the bounding box as well.
see: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-to-use-inaturalists-search-urls-wiki/63

@tiwane

Search by bounding box or circle

If you’d like to search an area that doesn’t have a place ID, you can put in a rectangular bounding box or a circle with a defined center and radius. These must be added to the URL manually.
For example, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=30.849458&nelng=-94.939413&swlat=30.220087&swlng=-95.792015 finds observations in a rectangular area north of Houston, Texas. You can use Google maps to find the lat/long points – just click on the map and it will give you the numbers.
And https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?lat=38.92&lng=-77.07&radius=16 finds observations around Washington, DC.

[frahome]

OK thank you. So the advantage to add a place to iNaturalist is to get an ID for a place and a specific polygon defining it. Not all Google Maps places are registered with an ID in iNaturalist (cities are while for examples urban or natural parks are not or at least not all of them).
Google Maps places not “registered” in iNaturalist can only be searched by boundary box. Is there a way to import the polygons from Google Maps? I would like for example to import natural and urban parks already defined in Google Maps in my area instead of having to draw them.

[alexis_orion]

I would move this topic to the #general category, since it isn’t really about the forum…

[charlie]

I moved it to general.

[arboretum_amy]

@frahome

cities are while for examples urban or natural parks are not or at least not all of them

In my area I find the opposite: some has done the parks but not cities. Unfortunately I’m pretty new myself and all I know about searches is that they have complexities I haven’t figured out.

[clay_s]

@frahome

OK thank you. So the advantage to add a place to iNaturalist is to get an ID for a place and a specific polygon defining it. Not all Google Maps places are registered with an ID in iNaturalist (cities are while for examples urban or natural parks are not or at least not all of them).
Google Maps places not “registered” in iNaturalist can only be searched by boundary box. Is there a way to import the polygons from Google Maps? I would like for example to import natural and urban parks already defined in Google Maps in my area instead of having to draw them.

The question is whether you can export the KML from Google Maps, and whether it is actually a point, or a polygon. I figure the green spaces on Google Map are KML based, but I have no Idea how to download from Google Map, without creating my own. Google earth allows downloading KMLs, but they seem to be just points.

You can use KML’s to create places on iNat.