iNaturalist Research-grade Observations

Ken-ichi Ueda1

1 iNaturalist / California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Dr., Golden Gate Park, 94118, San Francsico, United States

Corresponding author(s): Ken-ichi Ueda (kueda@inaturalist.org)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Abstract

Observations from iNaturalist.org, an online social network of people sharing biodiversity information to help each other learn about nature. iNaturalist is a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society.
Observations included in this archive met the following requirements:  
* Published under one of the following licenses or waivers: 1) http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
2) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, 3) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
* Achieved one of following iNaturalist quality grades: Research
* Created on or before 2020-04-09T22:41:14-07:00
You can view observations meeting these requirements at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?created_d2=2020-04-09T22%3A41%3A14-07%3A00&license=CC0%2CCC-BY%2CCC-BY-NC&quality_grade=research

Keywords: Metadata

General description

Purpose: iNaturalist.org is a website where anyone can record their observations from nature. Members record observations for numerous reasons, including participation in citizen science projects, school projects, and personal fulfillment.

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.gbif.org/resource?r=inat_metadata_test

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: No taxonomic restrictions have been placed on this dataset.
          For information about iNaturalist's taxonomy, see https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/curator+guide.

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Bounding Box
Coordinates: 89°55'35.78''S and 89°59'42.55''N Latitude; 179°59'56.04''W and 179°59'59.82''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: December 6, 1897 - April 10, 2020

Methods

Method step description: Observation recorded and verified by the community
Quality control description: iNaturalist observations become candidates for Research Grade when they have a photo, date, and coordinates. They become Research Grade when the community agrees on an identification. If the community has multiple opinions on what taxon has been observed, iNaturalist chooses a taxon from all the proposed taxa (an implied ancestor taxa of the proposed taxa) that more than 2/3 of the voters agree with. The full algorithm is as follows: for all identified taxa and the taxa that contain them (e.g. genus Homo contains Homo sapiens), score each as the ratio between the number of cumulative IDs for that taxon over the sum of the cumulative IDs, the number of more conservative IDs added after the first ID of that taxon, and the number of IDs that are completely different (i.e. IDs of taxa that do not contain the taxon being scored). For the identified taxa that have a score over 2/3 and at least 2 identifications, iNaturalist chooses the lowest ranked taxon as the community taxon. An observation can lose Research Grade status if the community has voted it down on several metrics, including whether the organism is wild / naturalized (i.e. not captive / cultivated), whether the location and date seem accurate, and whether the content of the observation is appropriate for the context (e.g. violation of iNaturalist's Terms of Service, copyright violation, plagiarism, etc.). To learn more about data quality on iNaturalist, see http://www.inaturalist.org/pages/help#quality

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2020-04-09
Hierarchy level: Dataset