Taxon thumbnail of suggested ID seems to get similar to observation

General
1

I recently noticed that the taxon thumbnail of a suggested ID seems to get similar to observation. Why is that? It isn’t necessarily the picture on the taxon website anymore. This can be kind of annoying, if it looks like an almost exact match and I cannot find the corresponding observation / source. Is there a way to get to the source?

Example:

grafik
grafik722×893 88.6 KB

2

this was change implemented in February last year; see https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/106449-better-image-matches-photo-similarity-update-to-computer-vision-suggestions and https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/better-image-matches-photo-similarity-update-to-computer-vision-suggestions/61909

3

Is there a way to get to the source?

4

I changed from “Forum Feedback” to “General”

5

Me three.
How do we get to the obs with the ‘nicely matching’ picture ?? iNat knows which obs it is. Enquiring minds want to know.

PS left a link back here – and the question – on the blog post.

6

I’ve noticed that too, it’s frustrating when I can’t get to the photo

7

here’s what i would do, using an example observation:

  1. copy the link for the image you’re interested in, as shown in Edge in Windows:
    image
    image857×900 140 KB
  2. the link will be something like https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/276243369/square.jpg, where the number in the URL is the numeric ID of the photo record.
  3. go to https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/{numeric id of the photo record}, which in this case would be https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/276243369
  4. there will be links to associated taxa on the right side of the page, as shown below:
    image
    image1004×541 144 KB

…

it would be possible for one of the iNaturalist browser extension developers to automate this process in a browser extension, if one of them really wanted to.

8

Reply from loarie on the blog post

If you click ‘view’ next to a species suggestion (e.g. the Asphaera quadrifasciata you get here https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/246684779) it takes you to the taxon page with that photo front and center. e.g.
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/979269-Asphaera-quadrifasciata?photo_id=424267701
If you tap on it and tap on the ‘i’ you get taken to a page with a link to the observation the photo came from, e.g.
https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/424267701

Since I am usually in the Identify modal, in future I must remember to open the obs,
then I can click thru.

Sorry – click the +, then the i …

9

From what I have seen, the CV picks a photo at the level it is recommending (like family or tribe) that best matches your photo. The bad thing is that this taxon photo may OR MAY NOT actually be correct for the family or genus. I have encountered so many moths incorrectly listed that it is clear the logic behind this does not meet the goal. Since you can’t have RG family, the CV can’t use a RG filter in the photos.

I think it only ends up giving a false level of confidence that is not warranted.