It’s easiest for me to upload observations from my phone, especially since many of the plants and insects that I photograph are done with my phone. Sometimes the location automatically gets sent to iNaturalist, sometimes not (and I’m not sure why). In the cases where it does not I find it extremely difficult to give an accurate location., especially if the location is in a wilderness area. Even when I am very zoomed in to the point where the satellite image has reached it limit of zoom still well known locations (for example Sierra San Pedro de Mártir National Park) have no label on the app’s map.
When I find observations I am usually in a location which doesn’t have cell signal (although my phone GPS should still be working), and uploading the images later from home, trying to scroll around a tiny screen and find the location on the satellite image map is virtually impossible to do accurately. I find it much easier the way the website location map is implemented, where I type in the name of the location.
Also a question, if I have uploaded an image with approximate location, but want to give a more accurate location, is it possible to edit the location from the website? I have tried and couldn’t find a way to do it.
You can type in a location then use the map to make things more precise.
It would be really helpful to know your workflow here. The app should start getting your location once you start an observation. Are you taking photos within the app, or importing photos from your phone’s gallery?
Is it possible you don’t have your location services (gps) enabled for the app? most of us are just using the built-in location on our cell phones, not entering it.
I get that with my camera… If I start it up and take a photo before the GPS has a chance to “locate”, it will result in an observation without a pin location. Usually it is when I am under tree canopy, or when photographing stuff indoors.
Mostly I use my phone for the photos I’m going to upload to iNaturalist, but sometimes I do use photos from my camera. The phone photos often do have the location GPS co-ordinates, but not always. I’m not sure why some don’t.
Oh that makes sense. I bet that’s what happening to me in many of these instances too, it’s just not getting GPS loaded before I take the photo. I am often in very remote locations, and it’s possible the GPS signal is not getting through.
Thank you. It’s a hassle to have to go to the website every time I need to do this though. So I hope that the app soon has that functionality. Is the app being actively developed? I haven’t ever seen an update for it when I’ve updated my other apps, but I may have missed it.
It’s currently in 10% production release as well, so some non-beta users might be able to update to it. It will be given a wider release once we know this version isn’t going to cause crashes and such.
