The 1-2-3s of Geoprivacy
Here at the Socially Distant BioBlitz team's virtual "headquarters" we value your privacy. If you wish to keep the specific location of an observation hidden from the public, you can! The geoprivacy setting for observations defaults to "open", but also comes with options for "obscured" and "private".
Open - Coordinates are visible and the observation appears as a teardrop-shaped marker on iNaturalist maps. Most iNaturalist users pick this option.
Obscured - Public coordinates are moved to a random point within roughly 22 x 22 kilometer box and the observation appears within the box as a circular marker without a stem. The actual coordinates of the observation are only visible to you, trusted users, and trusted project curators. This geoprivacy option is automatically applied to rare and endangered species who may be threatened by collection/harvesting or otherwise disturbed due to the public's knowledge of its location.
Private- Coordinates are completely hidden from public maps. True coordinates are only visible to you, trusted users, and trusted project curators.
For more about geoprivacy, check out the following resources.
iNaturalist's Geoprivacy page (https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/geoprivacy)
FAQ - What is Geoprivacy? (https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/help#geoprivacy)
Video on how to change the geoprivacy setting in the iNaturalist app (https://vimeo.com/400823245) Thanks, @tiwane for making this!
Comments
Note:
Please avoid using the "private" setting unless it is really necessary, as it can be very difficult to identify many groups without even knowing what continent the observation is from. Many users also focus on a specific geographic region when identifying, and they will not find your observations if you set the geoprivacy to "private".
Add a Comment