Any advances on this topic?
I too tend to obscure my coordinates and would like to have access to them on a map.
one thing you could do is make a project! You have to make a traditional project and add things manually, but it’s not too bad. Then you have them all in one place even though obscured. You can have them added to this umbrella project:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/home-projects-umbrella/journal
( i really hope there is support for the original request, but this is also helpful)
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I would sooo like to have a way to do this.
As a programmer, I understand the caching issue. To implement this, they would have to cache both sets of coordinates, or the extra computing power required would affect performance. Personally, if I could check a checkbox to say “please give me poor performance but show my real coordinates”, I would gladly do it when needed.
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Having assumed this was a bug (https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/unable-to-see-own-location-details/47024?u=deedb8) i have added my vote.
A few notes about this subject (which sadly seems mostly forgotten):
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A search in “Edit observations” can be a workaround to get an accurate map of observations with hidden coordinates but it only shows the most recent observations (200 I believe) and it can only be done in the browser, not in the app.
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Watching true locations on map in the app can be extremely valuable during field work, for example while searching for all occurrences of a species in a region or when checking the presence and conservation status of individuals observed before. The ultimate purpose of iNaturalist is the conservation of biodiversity (of species and habitats), that requires monitoring, for that we have to return to the same places regularly, and this can only be done effectively if we can easily see the true locations of previous observations.
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Someone mentioned that it doesn’t make much sense to record observations with hidden coordinates. I totally disagree. Not all rare and endangered taxa are officially recognized as such (particularly when they are globally abundant but locally rare), so the taxon geoprivacy is often not enough. Besides, if an observer is unable to identify an endangered species and leaves the ID at Genus level or even lower, then the taxon geoprivacy will not be applied.
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Regarding the “obscure by day” approach: there are less drastic ways to prevent the interpolation of coordinates. I often change the observation time (but not the date) of specimens of endangered species whose location I want to keep private, so that in a sorted list of my observations they won’t appear next to other observations made nearby. This isn’t dishonest - at least for observations of plants - because, if a plant was flowering in a specific place at 4:25 P.M., it was certainly also flowering in the same place at 11:30 A.M. that same day - but I probably was in a different place at 11:30 A.M., therefore this change in the observation time helps obscure the true location.
Of course this wouldn’t be necessary if iNaturalist also randomized observation times - and not just latitude and longitude - of observations whose geoprivacy is set to “obscured”. -
Regarding the supposed inconvenience of hidden coordinates for researchers who want to use the data from those observations: it is possible to create a project and invite all contributors to share their hidden coordinates with that project. If a user decides not to, that decision must be respected.
I would love this feature too. Although I like to share most of my observations there are situations I am obscuring too:
a) species, which are pouched in wild (some orchids, carnivorous plants, etc.)
b) new records, which I plan to publish in journals (later I would make them available)
c) in some rare situations where I am in protected areas where access is prohibited, either accidently or when I agree with rangers but have no loegal permit or when its a part of arranged gorup visit of scientists, agreed but often without proper permits, as it is often difficult/impossible to obtain.
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Inat obscures the observation date to just the month and year. It didn’t always do that, but has done for quite some time now.
Even with fuzzing that it can still be surprisingly easy to “unobscure” some observations, sometimes with almost pinpoint accuracy … but it’s probably best not to talk more about that here other than to say it’s hard to keep things secret when you put them in a bag full of things you’re oversharing about.
“Lying” about the observation time in the way you describe won’t make your obscured obs “more secure” from people you haven’t shared them with, it only distorts the data (in ways you also might not easily predict) for the people you do share it with and your own future use.
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Is this really not implemented? What a pity. It’s so inconvenient. I don’t have many rare species (whose coordinates are hidden), but still, every time I get so confused when I see dots in places I haven’t been…
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I’m just adding my support for this functionality. Specifically that 1) my own obscured observations (whether obscured personally or automatically) are visible to me accurately on maps via My Observations. And 2) observers can opt in to have the accurate coordinates available as well as pins displayed accurately on maps within trusted projects.