About iNaturalist
overview
iNaturalist is a community of users that share observations of wildlife and wild plants. An “observation” is a record of an organism in a specific location on a certain date which is a valuable resource for science.
Among iNaturalist users are a network of scientists and experts that can help you with identifications and answering questions.
The iNaturalist platforms include an app and the website. The app is great for on-the-go observations, and the website is more in-depth, containing additional features and information.
iNaturalist’s "Getting Started” introduction to the features
CNC Projects
Watch our competitor’s observations come in from all over the world with the two City Nature Challenge umbrella projects. The City Nature Challenge has grown so much, we have surpassed the maximum limit of 500 entries in an umbrella project in 2024, so we now have two projects!
Using the iNaturalist app
You can use the iNaturalist app on your smart phone or your tablet.
First, you will need to download the iNaturalist app, create an account and log into the app. Your login will work for both the app and the website. The app icon is a green bird in a white square.
Make sure your phone GPS has been enabled for the iNaturalist app. This is important so the location will automatically added to your observations. On an iPhone, go to to Settings > Privacy > Location Services, then scroll down through the list of apps. If the slider next to iNaturalist is green, location services is enabled and you should be ready to go.
To make an observation, go find a wild organism, like a caterpillar or a plant. Open your phone camera and get close to it and take some photos from different angles. Check to make sure they are in focus, and crop them if necessary.
Now open up the iNaturalist app and click the Make an Observation button and then choose the photo library button so you can select your photos. Pick the best photo and then click Next. To add an additional photo of the same organism, click the + button and repeat.
Now go the “what did you see?” section. The artificial intelligence will make a suggestion to help you. If you don’t know what it is, that’s OK! You can just type “plant” or “insect” and other iNaturalist users will help you.
Hit Share, and it will upload it and you will see it in your list of observations.
Great job - go make some more observations!
THE SEEK app
SEEK by iNaturalist is an app for beginners and younger naturalists that turns observing nature into a mini scavenger hunt and you can earn badges for finding different types of observations and species. If you log into your iNaturalist account from within the SEEK app, your SEEK observations during the event will count toward the City Nature Challenge!
USing Cameras
If you use a digital camera, you will need to download your photos from your camera first. You then can upload your observations through the iNaturalist website or the app, depending on where you store your photos. Since cameras do not have built in GPS like smart phones, you will have to manually enter the location that the observations were made.
There are helpful GPS apps available that photographers use to help track their movements during photo outings.
Using the iNaturalist Website
The website is a great resource with more features than the app. You can also work on multiple observation uploads at the same time.
First, create an account and log into the website at inaturalist.org. Your login will work for both the website and the app.
Open the folder where you store your camera or smart phone photos. This is a good time to crop your photos too.
Click the green Upload button.
Either drag the photos you want into the screen, or click the blue Choose Files button and navigate to the location of your photos and select the ones you want.
Each rectangular card is one observation. If you have multiple photos for one observation, you can group them together by stacking them - drag the photos onto the card that you want to be the cover photo.
Next, enter the Location for each observation card (if you did not have GPS data attached to your photo.) It is very helpful to enter the location first because it will aid the artificial intelligence in narrowing down the suggestions to species found in your area.
Short cut: To speed things up, you can edit the location and/or details of all of the cards at the same time. To do this, click the Select All box in the banner above the photos. Now enter the details in the left editing column and this data will be applied to all of the selected cards.
Check the Date field to make sure that information was imported with your photo.
The iNaturalist uploader screen with two observation cards filled in and ready to submit.
Click inside of the Species Name field and the artificial intelligence will help you by making a suggestion. Select the appropriate identification, if there is a match. If you don’t know what it is, that’s OK! You can just type “plant” or “insect” and other iNaturalist users will help you.
Once all of the cards have an identification, date and location, click the green Share button in the top right corner. Once these are uploaded, you will see all of them in the Your Observations section.
Great job - go make some more observations!
“The discovery of what’s here is the fun thing about science. We want people to tell us what they find by submitting their photographs. As a scientist, I am just one person and I can only go out and see so many things, but with the collective of everybody participating, it can show us really what’s found here much better than a single person can.”
In 2023, iNaturalist became an independent non-profit organization. Read more about what iNaturalist is and isn’t.