iNaturalist iPhone App - The Explore Screen

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction
• Observations Search
• Species Search

Introduction

With iNaturalist it's possible to sort and filter the more than 200 million observations on iNaturalist by using the Explore screen. This help page will show you the basics, and you can then test out the various filter and sort options on your own. 

At the bottom of any screen in iNaturalist, tap on the magnifying glass icon to see the Explore screen. We strongly recommend turning on location permissions if you want to see observations near you.

The Explore screen is made up of two main sections. The top section displays the current taxon and location fiters on the left, the Filters icon on the right, and the number of results for the current seach just below:

The middle of the screen displays the results of the current search. This may appear as a list, a group of tiles, or a map, depending on your current search. Note the icon at the bottom right-hand corner, which shows binoculars in the screenshot below. That indicates what type of search you're currently performing - in this case, Observations.

Let's walk through some example uses of the Explore screen, assuming you are letting iNaturalist access your location. 

Observations Search

1. Open up the Explore screen. By default, iNaturalist's Explore screen searches for observations and is filtered to display only verifiable observations.
   
   
2.  iNaturalist will automatically zoom to your current location in a map view. The number of observations listed at the top are all verifiable observations in a 50km radius of your current location, which is what "Nearby" means.
   
   
   
3. Each pin represents an observation with "open" geoprivacy, each dot is the public location of an observation with "obscured" geoprivacy. Tap on a pin or dot to open an observation if you like.
   
   On the lower left-hand side you can tap on the target to bring the map back to your current location, or tap on the layers icon to change map layers (for example, from regular maps to satellite view).
   
   
4. You will also see a view chooser with three icons on the lower left-hand side: 
   
   
   From left to right, these icons mean
   1. Map View: (currently selected): view observations, based on your current filters, on a map.
      
   2. Grid View: view observations, based on your current filters, as a grid of tiles.
   3. List view: view observations, based on your current filters, as a list.
      
      
5. In Map view, scroll or zoom a bit so you see a different area of the map. Once you do so, you'll see a large green button that says "Redo Search in Map Area". Tap on that to redo your current search only in the area shown on the map. 
   
   
   If you zoom out a bit, you'll see that the map continues to only show observations in the area you chose to search in until you tap on "Redo Search in Map Area" again.
   
   
   
6. Let's try to filter the observations in your search area. Go to the top of the screen and tap the Filters icon. You'll now see a list of filters you can apply.
   
   
   Tap on "Search for a Taxon", type in "beetles", and tap on "Beetles (Order Coleoptera)". A new filter for that taxon is set:
   
   
   
   
7. Tap on the green "Apply Filters" button at the bottom.
    
8. You will now see results showing only the beetle observations made nearby. You use the view swticher to see them in a different view (like List view below):
   
   
   
9. Tap on the Filters icon again to edit or add more filters. For example, you could filter by an iNaturalist Place and only see beetles in that Place. You can also filter by date, data quality grade, and other options. Tap "Reset Filters" on the top right-hand corner to reset and start again.

Species Search

If you want to search species/taxa rather than individual observations, that's another option on the Explore Screen. 

1. Tap on the search chooser in the bottom right-hand corner. By default, it will show a binoculars icon, indicating you are searching observations.
   
   
2. You'll see a search chooser. Tap on Species.
   
   
   
   
   
3. iNaturalist will now show you all species observed in your current search, ordered from most-observed to least-observed. Note the leaf icon in the lower right-hand corner, indicating you are searching species.
   
   
   
4. Open up filters by tapping on the Filters icon in the top right-hand corner. Now you can filter species results in many different ways. For example, you could choose a taxon like Plants and then, using the Date Observed filter, choose to see which species are observed during certain months of the year.