I have done that, too. It is a different kind of armchair travel than the kind I do with Google Maps street view, which lets me stroll or drive around a faraway city.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet: I get to learn identification in a different way than I would with field guides. Pictures taken by people who often haven’t a clue about how to focus on diagnostic features, yet have been identified to species – when I have seen several of these identified to the same species, I start to feel confident about identifying that species, too.
There are a heap of things I love about iNat, but at the top of the list is without doubt the opportunity to feel useful. The obvious way is by identifying. I don’t do this nearly enough… I’m getting there, but I’m still too afraid of making mistakes to be of much use outside my immediate comfort zone. But another way I feel as though I can contribute is through diagnostic photos of the species I encounter in the hopes they can help the CV improve and also provide a direct visual comparison for others looking to ID their own observations.
When I’m about to travel somewhere, either near where I live or far, far away, I also love the chance to first “visit” it in iNat to get a feel for what I may or may not see.
Not to mention, of course, the satisfaction of being able to ID a hitherto unknown species.
Hook line and sinker. If I get the ID wrong - I can learn for next time.
Withdraw mine and then follow the learning curve. (Next time I see that I will ID cautiously at a higher / broader level, and I know who to ask in future)
I like that iNat users, by and large, are an incredible group of people. Accepting, knowledgeable, friendly, informative, humorous…I could go on.
With more frequency, I’m reading articles based on iNat users. I get to grin with the thought “ I’m part of that.”
I was asked to help in a grad student’s project.
I have learned an incredible amount.
I have more reasons to spend hours outside.
When I moved here, most of the plants were a green wall, thanks to YOU, I know who a lot of them are. Thank you.
it is not a portal for idiots, for advertisements, for ideology; it is a very good portal for developing a passion for nature and for purely scientific discussions; this is one of my favorite netplaces
Actually, one of my favorite things about iNat is kinda off-brand. In the Forum Feedback forum, in the discussion about changing the name of the General forum, there is this:
The “outlier” is one of my favorite things. I haven’t come across another place to have those kinds of discussions. I thought I remembered a thread somewhere where it was said that the Nature Talk forum wasn’t really part of the plan, that it was added later, and is in some ways thought of as extra trouble for curation and maintenance. Well, I’m still glad it’s there.