Standard QR codes for plant and tree species

General
1

What if iNaturalist had a standard QR code for every plant or tree species in the database? These QR codes could be used on standard tree and plant labels and identification plaques around the world to help inform observers interested in more detail. Link goes to iNaturalist specific plant or tree page.

1 Like
2

you can make your own QR codes that will take you to links to whatever pages you like. the only trouble with trying to link to particular taxa is that there are often taxonomy changes that occur in the system, which means that if you link to a particular taxon id, there’s no guarantee it won’t be superseded by something else in the future.

6 Likes
3

It’s a neat idea, although nothing really needs to be done to implement this. Each species already has a permanent URL so you only need to display that as a QR code.

For example, the URL for the page about English oak is https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/56133-Quercus-robur so you just need to render this as a QR code (using any of a thousand free apps or online convertors) and voila you have the scannable link:

qr-code
qr-code1147Ă—1147 4.51 KB

I suppose if iNat could implement directly downloadable QR codes from within the site, perhaps integrating their logo, but other than that it’s already quick and easy to do what you want.

3 Likes
4

Thank you Daniel

It would be great to have standard QR codes, so that signs and labels could be standardised and more cost effective.

1 Like
5

I wonder if this url is permanent. I don’t know the answer to this, but I am wondering if a taxon change also changes the url. Does anyone know this?

3 Likes
6

Others have already addressed making QR codes on your own, but regarding the larger idea of a standardized QR code for species across platforms, that’s not really an iNat thing. That’s more of a GBIF or other more scientific repository issue.

And it’s one that’s being addressed:

Often this is done more at a local level within specific collections or projects though:

5 Likes
7

I’m not sure you would want it to be that permanent anyway. If all the English oaks in parks and gardens were labelled with that QR code, and at sometime in the future the species got split (into, say, the northern English oak and the southern English oak) suddenly half of them would be linking through to the wrong species, which wouldn’t really be any more desirable than the links becoming broken.

1 Like
8

Scientific names are internationally recognized and if they aren’t always stable, they can be traced back to each other, to the standard names one happens to know. Each observation has a URL, which seems to be a standardized internet address for each. (It will be good to know if a name change results in URL change, but I suspect it doesn’t. URL doesn’t seem to change as the observation gets ID’d.) Standardized QR codes would be another layer of more or less standardized label, and a confusing one to most of us. I don’t see the point.

1 Like
9

Observation URLs are stable, but taxon URLs are not necessarily stable on iNaturalist.

4 Likes
10

Aside from the taxonomic issues, something else I haven’t seen mentioned is that there are multiple iNaturalist affiliations and websites: https://www.inaturalist.org/sites/network. If someone is using a different one from the one the QR code goes to, they won’t be logged in when they arrive at the site (although you can log in using your usual account) and the site may not be in the language that the person accessing it normally uses. Logging in fixes this, but this would be very awkward for many species whose ranges cross countries/regions with many different languages

1 Like
11

Thank you earthknight, that’s very helpful

Kind regards

Neil

1 Like
12

Thank you pisum. That’s very helpful

Kind regards
Neil

1 Like
13

Thank you sedgequeen.

I’m trying to find a way of using signs on trees in public places that provide more in-depth information about the species. iNaturalist provides this detail for each species and a QR code can link to the species URL. Can you see another way of achieving this?

Kind regards
Neil

1 Like
14

Thank you bugbaer, Good point!

Kind regards
Neil

1 Like
15

Thank you DanielAustin and tisli for clarifying this.

Kind regards
Neil

1 Like
16

Thank you tiwane

Kind regards
Neil

1 Like
17

No, I have no idea. But I could see that being a good use of these QR codes. And this use won’t interfere with what I do, a big plus (for me).

18

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.