Using inaturalist - citizen science and vocational education

As blogged earlier in 2018, I have been using inaturalist(previously naturewatch) to archive photos of plants found on walks in the NZ outdoors. Photos are taken on my phone (currently a Samsung Galaxy s5) which automatically transfer to my Google photos. I sort these when I have wifi access and shift the best shots / notable plants into my flora and fauna album.

I then work through the photos, providing an indicative identification. The date and location is captured on the phone although I input locations manually when the phone is used off line.

When I get home, I transfer the photos along with my ‘best guess’ identification on to inaturalist. The site has a ‘suggestion’ feature which is about 50% accurate. Given photos of plants are often ‘busy’ with lots of other plants lurking in the background and being photo bombed by strands of tussock /ferns or lichen, the AI on inaturalist is actually quite good at honing in on the target plant.

The version of inaturalist on my ipad has a google lens feature which does a similar thing but is perhaps not as focused as google lens is not specialised on plants only.

A check on location is also important as many plants have regional specialisation.

Once the post is up, there will usually be affirmation or suggestions within the hour. The main identifiers on inaturalist NZ are more often then not, professional botanist. Some plants, exampled by orchids, are shifted automatically into the NZ native orchid site. No doubt, many botanist use the site to build distribution maps of the species they are studying / interested in. An example of citizen scientists' contributions is provided in this article and a NZ example from NZ Geographic. Therefore, for novices / amateurs like myself, there is ready access to expertise which is timely and collegial. I have learnt much about the nuances of plant identification, along with the challenges of identifying plants which are comparable.

Field trips, bio blitzes, nature 'weeks' etc. are all hosted on inaturalist, providing a means to archive a portfolio of learner generated data for later reflection and reference. Therefore, inaturalist provides a good exemplar for similar endeavours in other fields. Vocational education project-based learning approaches will be well supported if there is availability of related platforms.