I was recently added as a curator to an iNat project that was started in 2017, and was hoping to add an area that was inadvertently left off of the project’s original place. Unfortunately, the person who created the boundaries for the original place has moved on and cannot locate the relevant file. I tried following the tutorial “How to get KML boundaries for iNat places - wiki,” specifically, method 2, but the Response Body for the project (ID=11164) provides total results = 0. Given that the project is still recognizing whether or not an observation is within the defined place, the boundary file must still exist and be accessible. Any suggestions for how to track it down?
You need to use the ID of the place, not the project. You can find the kml here: https://www.inaturalist.org/places/geometry/119738.kml
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Ah, that makes sense. Thanks!
The part of campus that was left off is technically separated from the main campus by a block or so of residences. Can a single iNat place have two such separate areas, or will I need to combine the two areas in a single area that includes the intervening residences (or at least a sliver’s worth)?
They can be separate. But they have to be formatted as a single multi-part feature. The other option is to create a second place and then have the project use two places.
You should probably also consider converting the project from Traditional to Collection style.
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I probably should have thought a little harder before responding last time – you don’t have permission to edit the place, only the place creator and iNat curators/staff have permission. You can make a new place for the second part of campus and then have the project use two places, or you can ask an iNat curator to edit the place for you.
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Okay, so I pulled together 50 new observations and created a new place, which raises a couple of new questions.
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Those observations have yet to appear associated with the new place; does that happen automatically? I don’t see how to add them manually.
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Likewise, the only way I see to add the second place to the project is to create a new rule saying observations must be observed there. That worked for a test observation, which was accepted into the project (however, that observation did not appear in the observation list for the second place; see question 1 above). However, the map that appears on the project page is unchanged; that is, it only shows the original place, and does not show the second place. How can I get this map to show both places?
Thanks for all your help. Cutting my iNat teeth by taking over an older project is either the best or the worst way to learn how to use it; I haven’t decided yet!
Okay, first question answered: it just took some time for the records to catch up with the place. Second question still stands: no change in the map (not sure how that could happen anyways, if that’s simply visualizing a KML file…).
I think that’s a limitation of traditional projects. Have you considered switching to a Collection project? More info here: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/managing-projects#types
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Is it possible to toggle a project between Traditional and Collection? I think some of the other curators of this project are interested in seeing how this change would affect the project but want to reserve the right to stick with Traditional if the Collection version doesn’t suit their objectives.
From the Edit Project page, you can ask for a preview of the Collection project. Once in the preview, you can either accept the Collection version, or stay with Traditional. If you accept the Collection version, you can’t go back to Traditional.
Okay, thanks. I’d better do some screen grabs of the preview for their perusal then!
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