The thing is, if you’re concerned enough about privacy that these are valid issues, you probably shouldn’t be using things like iNat at all because the multi-step connection through Google is the least of it. It’s putting locations where you’ve been on the map in the first place that’s the problem, not the fact that Google is the map server and they’re not the best company. Just to use an example, a notorious drug cartel boss was tracked down through his Google reviews not because Google leaked the info or revealed it to law enforcement, but because independent media pieced together who and where he was.
Companies like Google suck in a lot of ways, but most of the time there are much faster and simpler ways of obtaining someone’s data than going through what the company itself vacuums up.
I think this is an unfair question. if iNat were written and supported by a single developer, it would be more fair. but even if it were a single developer, the system would still be built on top of other code that makes the question impossible to answer definitively. Just my opinion.
what sort of information are you want to keep away from Google that you think iNat has an incentive to hand over to them?
i think the Account tab in the Account settings in the iNaturalist website does a reasonable job of explaining some things to be aware of.
i would also point out that if you’re using Google’s universal login to get into iNaturalist, that probably gives Google a way to tie your Google ID to your Google Maps activity via the iNatuarlist website.
also, i would think that if you’re using the Android app, there are already so many things that Android can send back to Google that whatever the Android iNaturalist app might send one way or another to Google hardly matters.
@tiwane – i wonder if the checkboxes here are inverted? at least on the bottom two items, i thought you weren’t supposed to be able to revoke consent without deleting your account? for me, those two boxes are unchecked, just like they appear to be for pfau_tarleton, which i would think shouldn’t be possible. or maybe we are grandfathered in because our accounts existed before these options existed? either way, something seems to be wrong here.
In the German version of the App, you need actively deactivate the data usage by third parties. Thats the only option I do have an influence on it. The other two options from the screenshot are missing.
I think it is imperative to prevent Google from finding a pathway into my computer via iNat. I just discovered that Google copied all of my photos from my hard drive going back to 2002, years before I was using my android phone to take photos. I do not remember giving them permission to do this, it must have been in the small print somewhere. I am wondering if they also copied my personal files and documents.
i can’t think of any way that simply using the iNat website on your computer would have opened up some sort of mechanism for Google to copy all your photos from your hard drive.
you must have granted Google permission to do this on your own, possibly through something like Google Drive for Desktop.
How do you know that Google copied all of your photos BEFORE you gave it access? If photos were taken in 2002 and are on your computer, and you gave Android/Google access, then it would copy them even though the photos were taken prior to you giving them access.
I’m assuming that you see them in Google Photos. This wouldn’t have happened without you giving permission (not just in the fine print). You may have installed Google Drive for Desktop (formerly known as “Backup and Sync” or “Google Backup and Sync”). When you install Google Drive for Desktop, during setup you’re given the option to back up specific folders on your computer to your Google Account. Many people select folders like Pictures, Desktop, or even their entire hard drive. Once configured, any photo placed in those folders is automatically synced to your Google Photos or Google Drive — no manual upload needed.
OpenStreetMap (and associated resources) are quite nice for outdoors and iNaturalisting as an alternative to Google offerings; for example, I have found much better representations of hiking and walking trials in OpenStreetMap tiles.
As an example, a mobile-convenient highlights explorer responsibly using OpenLayers and OpenStreetMap to browse locations via the generously advanced iNaturalist API:
So no I don’t think iNaturalist use must be inescapably tied to Google cookies and connections etc
Utterly unrealistic I’m afraid. The internet just doesn’t work like that. For search Google is top. For analytics ln the website Google is top. GA4 is an utter minefield to set up but one set up it provides a goldmine of information. Android is inherently Google without a lot of effort as well.
Google’s screwing up their search now but it’s still better than others in real life use cases the majority of the time. It’s got worse. They even less good.
folks who really still want to delve into iNat and Google Maps might want to read https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/use-openstreetmap-maps/2588/33 (and other posts in the thread), if they haven’t already. it goes through some of the things that Google Maps provides that most people don’t consider, along with some alternatives.
and remember that Google Maps is perhaps the most visible trace of Google that you see when you use the iNaturalist website, but Google has other tentacles across the platform (especially if you’re an Android app user), across the internet, and even just in terms of relationships. i really don’t see what practical benefit you get by walking away from Google Maps without addressing all the other tentacles. it really seems like that would take away a ton of benefits without really taking away any of the negative consequences.
it doesn’t sound to me like you’ve really deGoogled your own situation. ad blockers won’t prevent YouTube from identifying you and doing all the other things that people perceive as bad. you’re still using Android at the end of the day instead of switching to, say, the Apple ecosystem, which means that Google still has its tentacles in you there, too. very likely there are many other examples of Google services and infrastructure that you benefit from that you are totally unaware of, but stop using YouTube and Android altogether for a few weeks, and then come back and tell us it’s all okay.
Hello! I missed this @-mention when it happened. I do have a experience building map tile services, and also keeping them updated (or, too often, failing to do so). It’s a fairly costly and complex thing to do. It’s not mysterious or cutting edge, but it is rather niche and specialized, with tooling and workflows that are pretty specific to mapping, map data, and maptiles.
One key issue for maps at iNaturalist is that we display a LOT of them. Generating, updating and serving maptiles at our scale would be a large effort with substantial costs, even if the data itself is free from OpenStreetMap. This older post, already linked in this thread, gives some details, which are still mostly correct. In one of my previous jobs (Stamen Design), we hosted freely available OSM-based map tiles at scale. From the beginning, we couldn’t afford to build an update pipeline to keep up as the world changes, so tiles would get increasingly out of date. Eventually, the company couldn’t afford to even serve the non-updated tiles at the scale they were being consumed (billions of tile requests), so they partnered with a commercial service to sell access to the tiles (and keep them current with OSM data).
The iNat platform also includes location features that are not visibly maps. For example, the place search on the Explore page includes a Google geocoding tool to interpret addresses/text into map locations. Over the years, I have tried many different options for that particular service, and Google’s has always done by far the best job of turning text into locations (which is surprisingly hard to do well).
We’re not currently considering any replacement of Google Maps or Location services.
Isn’t there any efficient tools for that among QGIS open ressources ?
NB: It’s worth remembering that Google didn’t create everything on its own. The company largely compiled pre-existing free (or not) code, that had been written by others.
