Product introduction | You photographed it, but cannot name it

On a walk, you photograph an insect and can tell only that it is a beetle. iNaturalist is a nature-observation and community platform: record the photo, time and place of the encounter, and others can use that evidence to suggest an identification. An observation represents an encounter with one organism at a particular time and place; separate organisms need separate records. What an observation represents

Uploaders do not have to be experts. Start with a broad group such as “Insects” and ask the community to refine it. This article follows the path from one observation to a shared judgment: the evidence belongs to the encounter, while its name may change as new identifications arrive.

Evidence, individual judgments and the community taxon are distinct; quality status can still change with new evidence.

Core workflow | Keep the evidence with the judgment

Suppose you photographed an unfamiliar beetle in a park and want to record it on the website.

  1. Upload the encounter. After signing in, click Upload, drag in the photo and enter the observation date. Enter a place name, then check the map position and the circle showing location uncertainty. Mark captive or cultivated organisms accordingly. Before submitting, confirm that the photo and place belong to this encounter. Web upload steps
  2. Identify only as far as you are confident. Choose a suggested name or search for a broader group such as “Insects.” After submitting, return to the observation to see community activity. Each person can have only one active identification; changing it does not give that person two votes. What an identification means
  3. Understand the community result. The observation taxon at the top and the community taxon are related but distinct. One person’s identification does not yet produce a community taxon; at least two active identifications are needed. The system generally seeks a taxon supported by more than two-thirds of identifiers. Disagreement can move it to a broader group containing both suggestions. It does not simply use the latest reply. The website lets you inspect support for the community taxon. How the community taxon forms
  4. Treat quality status as revisable. A wild-organism observation with an accurate date, location and photographic or audio evidence meets the basic verifiable-observation conditions. Research Grade also depends on taxonomic consensus and other requirements. Later disagreement can return it to Needs ID. A status upgrade is not a promise that the record will never change. Quality assessment and reversal conditions

Design lessons | Make room for uncertainty and disagreement

Let people contribute what they really know. An observer may know where an organism was found and what it looked like without knowing the species. Broad identifications let the evidence appear before its name is settled. The tradeoff is further community work: more observations do not automatically mean more confirmed records.

Separate evidence from conclusions. One photo can support different judgments. A new identification need not erase the encounter. Showing who made a judgment and the taxonomic level it supports helps readers understand disagreement. For crowdsourced records or local archives, the aim is to match certainty to evidence, rather than giving every record a definitive label as quickly as possible.

Allow conclusions to move backward. New opinions can return a record to an identification-needed state. That can correct a premature name, but users must not read a badge as a permanent guarantee. Products with jointly maintained data can design both how a record earns recognition and how new evidence reopens discussion.