Suggesting a New Feature for iNaturalist

During my time using iNaturalist this weekend, I had a thought about a feature that I believe would be helpful to the users of the app. Often times, the iNaturalist community is very helpful in identifying plant species that the uploading user is unfamiliar with and can describe but cannot readily identify. Last week during class, someone asked if there was a way to request identification - essentially asking "is there a way to put an observation out there and increase viewing traffic in hopes of someone seeing it who can then identify it?" Flavio mentioned that it is important to be as detailed as possible when uploading and describing an observation - that identifying a species on any level, even in a very broad sense, as opposed to just writing "unknown species" is the best way to hope that it will be identified. I recall, in the past, using field ID guides or even identification apps that basically guide you through identifying a species of interest - tools that ask a series of simple, almost yes or not questions, to help narrow down the possibilities of what it might be. What group does this plant belong to - woody plants, aquatic plants, grass-like plants? Does this plant have broad leaves or needle-like leaves? I wonder if having a series of description-related questions associated with each observation, whether or not the app is eventually able to suggest an identification or not, would be beneficial to the user. At least this way there would be a basic level of information and features already confirmed about the species. iNaturalist could give a narrowed-down suggestion of IDs based on the questions the user has answered, or at least when other users attempt to help identify the species they will have a basis of knowledge to work from. I am not sure exactly what the best way to implement this new feature would be, but I think there could be some very user-friendly ways to do so. Let me know what you guys think!

Posted on 10 May, 2020 15:19 by jearn043