Hi there.
I’m just wondering if there is anyone out there who is using the inaturalist open source software who would be prepared to have a chat about the possible use of it for cataloging and making available nature images to members of our not for profit organisation.
Cheers
Peter
Depending on what you’re trying to do, it might be easier to create an iNaturalist project instead. There are also ways to embed iNaturalist content in other websites without having to run the iNaturalist software yourself. See, for example, https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/inaturalist-web-widget/14415. Setting up and maintaining an independent instance of the iNaturalist software is a huge project and usually not the best solution. If you could provide more specific information about what you are wanting to accomplish, maybe we could help you figure out a better solution.
The first question that comes to my mind is: if a user subsequently deletes the observation (or their account), will either of these methods prevent the other website from breaking? If an image is licensed for this kind of use, I would feel safer hosting a copy off iNaturalist so that it is not affected by such deletions.
Thanks for responding. Sorry for the delay in contacting you. I forgot to come back to the forum… I represent a local environmental group. It is highly regarded and the images that we hold are requested very frequently. Several things are creating issues for us.
We are looking for a way that we can allow a web based search of our collection that is secure and a way in which multiple approved folks can update the database.
We also want a system that is easy to maintain.
We currently have in excess of 7000 images of plants and animals from our local area. some 200km x 50km in area. The images are identified and catalogued by location, author and technical details.
I’ve been onto iNaturalist support and they are not that encouraging so I am seeking some folks I can communicate with for advice as to where I may go next.
There is a small budget. Much of the iNaturalist interface seems to be something that would solve a number of our issues.
Cheers and Thanks Peter
Thanks for responding to my query. I’m beginning to think that self hosting an instance of iNaturalist is beyond our technical resources. I’ve created a test project but not sure that that would be the way to go. However I’m sure I didn’t explore the full suite of options that are available. So sample sites would be a good help if you know of any.
I have some experience using already developed client side scripts to do similar things. I’m past the point of being able to develop software (skillset wayyyy too stale). The upside is, I’d try to help you for free. It sounds like some (most) of what you’re interested in is already freely available through iNat itself. Is your existing software solution publicly available? If so, it’d be pretty easy to try to mimic what it already does with iNat.
iNat is very feature rich. Until you’ve used it heavily for a couple years it’s difficult to completely understand what’s available though the application itself.
By “secure” do you mean that you don’t want the images to be public? Is that because of copyright issues with the photos themselves, or for privacy/sensitive species concerns about locations or photographers?
The easiest solution (although tedious) involving iNat would be to upload all of those photos onto iNaturalist as separate observations, and add them all to a project. Then anyone can view and search through them, but they’d be publicly accessible.
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