# Tracking down missing observations in GBIF **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [February 24, 2025, 8:58pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/tracking-down-missing-observations-in-gbif/62104 "2025-02-24T20:58:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gnat79](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/gnat79/32/1810_2.png) [@gnat79](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/gnat79)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2025, 8:58pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/tracking-down-missing-observations-in-gbif/62104/1 "2025-02-24T20:58:27Z")
I’ve been looking up data in GBIF, and I understand that iNaturalist exports data (perhaps once per week) and that GBIF may or may not ingest all of it. I’m trying to understand precisely (if possible) what observation data I should expect to see in GBIF. In particular, while looking up Odonata in Delaware, I noticed that there are 4 observations of Cordulegaster maculata (Twin-spotted spiketail), now called Zoraena maculata (GBIF hasn’t updated this genus to reflect this change, to my knowledge). These observations are listed here: [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place\_id=4&subview=table&taxon\_id=1578649](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=4&subview=table&taxon_id=1578649) Now these are fairly old observations. They are location obscured (presumably due to some curation rules, and not due to the observation authors setting it to obscured). I would expect these records to have made it to GBIF, even if the coordinates are low-precision / accuracy (I guess both would apply here). But a search yields nothing: [https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon\_key=1421217&gadm\_gid=USA.8\_1](https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=1421217&gadm_gid=USA.8_1) I’m wondering if I’m using either tool incorrectly, making incorrect assumptions, or what else might explain this discrepancy. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ShotShot](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/shotshot/32/60399_2.png) [@ShotShot](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/ShotShot)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2025, 9:10pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/tracking-down-missing-observations-in-gbif/62104/2 "2025-02-24T21:10:03Z")
They are all in GBIF (each iNat obs has a corresponding ‘GBIF’ icon and link, scroll down a bit), however not filed under ‘C. maculata’ but rather as ‘Zoraena maculata’ - and the taxon name in orange at GBIF reveals it’s an improperly-placed name (due to unclear synonymy for example), thus filed under ‘Zoraena’ genus. ---
**Author:** ![pisum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@pisum](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/pisum)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2025, 9:19pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/tracking-down-missing-observations-in-gbif/62104/3 "2025-02-24T21:19:25Z")
besides what you’ve noted, when filtering, GBIF interprets these as being in states other than Delaware because it’s using the obscured coordinates as the basis for filtering locations. ---
**Author:** ![gnat79](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/gnat79/32/1810_2.png) [@gnat79](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/gnat79)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 8:09pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/tracking-down-missing-observations-in-gbif/62104/4 "2025-02-25T20:09:18Z")
Thank you for mentioning that. I hadn’t noticed this. ---
**Author:** ![gnat79](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/gnat79/32/1810_2.png) [@gnat79](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/gnat79)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/tracking-down-missing-observations-in-gbif/62104/5 "2025-02-25T20:10:09Z")
Great, thank you. At a glance, it feels like there’s a TON of messy data floating around, and I wish I could help make it less messy. Alas! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/tracking-down-missing-observations-in-gbif/62104/6 "2025-04-26T20:10:32Z")
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