Restricting "Identify" to a bounding box

If one wants to identify stuff restricted to observations withing a bounding box (rather than state, country, etc), just enter the coordinates of your bounding box in the URL. Like this:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?nelat=37.234&nelng=-91.079&swlat=27.024&swlng=-102.790

This particular bounding box is centered on my location of residence and is the focus of much of my identifying attention. I had already set the bounding box from the "Observations" page (URL below), and then just pasted the coordinates displayed in the URL into the "Identify" URL above (removing some of the unnecessary accuracy), but one could get the coordinates from anywhere.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=37.23410683852991&nelng=-91.07940673828125&place_id=any&quality_grade=needs_id&swlat=27.024211596037404&swlng=-102.79083251953125&taxon_id=47158

[Thanks to Tony in the iNat Google Groups for this awesome tip!]

And if you're more into a circle, here's the bounding radius approach (the radius is in km):
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?radius=500&lat=32.2150262&lng=-98.2533024

To visualize that circle, just delete "/identify" in the URL:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?radius=500&lat=32.2150262&lng=-98.2533024

[Thanks to Chris for this explanation.]

Another handy tip:
In the filter, you can sort by "random" or "date added/ascending" and it will mix up new and old observations or show older posts first (good for snagging some older ones that tend to slip by otherwise).

Posted on 11 January, 2018 03:04 by pfau_tarleton pfau_tarleton

Comments

That's great info! Thanks for sharing.

Posted by bosqueaaron about 6 years ago

I’ve tried to focus on counties and general areas. For instance, I focus on Dallas/Fort Worth and try my best to get a good understanding of the local flora and fauna.

The only really bad thing about this narrow focus is that I don’t spend ANY time out of Texas! So there are likely some new folks in other states that are still waiting for some guidance. :-/

Posted by sambiology about 6 years ago

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