This tool reads the route of a hike and generates a table of iNaturalist observations along the way. It also displays the observations and the route of the hike on a map. It also stores waypoints of the iNaturalist observations for offline navigation with a GPS device or smartphone.
This is a command-line tool. It is called with a .gpx file describing the route. This .gpx file can either be downloaded after a hike from a gps device or smartphone or created before a hike by a mapping tool or website. The gpx files in the examples directory have been created using the free website caltopo.com.
Here is an example. This is the command for Linux and macOS
./inat_trails.py examples/Rancho_Canada_del_Oro.gpx
On Windows the command is:
python.exe .\inat_trails.py examples\Rancho_Canada_del_Oro.gpx
The output looks like this:
Reading 'examples/Rancho_Canada_del_Oro.gpx'...
Loaded 13 named roads and trails: Bald Peaks Trail, Canada Del Oro Cut-Off Trail, Canada Del Oro Trail, Casa Loma Road,
Catamount Trail, Chisnantuk Peak Trail, Little Llagas Creek Trail, Llagas Creek Loop Trail, Longwall Canyon Trail,
Mayfair Ranch Trail, Needlegrass Trail, Serpentine Loop Trail.
Loaded 2,708 iNaturalist observations of quality-grade 'research' within bounding box.
Excluded 1,694 observations not along route and 13 with low accuracy.
Loaded 829 taxa.
Waypoints written to './Rancho_Canada_del_Oro_Open_Space_Preserve_all_research_waypoints.gpx'.
Table written to './Rancho_Canada_del_Oro_Open_Space_Preserve_all_research_observations.html'.
Map written to './Rancho_Canada_del_Oro_Open_Space_Preserve_all_research_mapped_observations.html'.
This tool finds named trails along this route. It loads iNaturalist observations from the area of the hike and discards those that are not along the trails. It writes three output files, a waypoints file, a table of observations, and an interactive map. Both the table and the map are displayed in a browser.
The waypoint file can be loaded into the free offline navigation app OsmAnd. This allows this offline navigation app to display the iNaturalist observations along the hiking trails.
The table of observations lists all the organisms that have been observed along the trails, together with the trail names where they are found. The table for mammals seen in this park looks like this:
| Scientific Name | Common Name | Observations | |
| Canidae | Canids | ||
| Canis latrans | Coyote | Mayfair Ranch Trail: 38860133, 38860889 | |
| Urocyon cinereoargenteus | Gray Fox | Mayfair Ranch Trail: 39391329 | |
| Cervidae | Deer | ||
| Odocoileus hemionus ssp. columbianus | Columbian Black-Tailed Deer | Casa Loma Road: 80058758; Little Llagas Creek Trail: 68891936; Mayfair Ranch Trail: 19113219, 21319391, 44158629 | |
| Cricetidae | Hamsters, Voles, Lemmings, and Allies | ||
| Neotoma fuscipes | Dusky-Footed Woodrat | Mayfair Ranch Trail: 52963985 | |
| Felidae | Felids | ||
| Lynx rufus | Bobcat | Mayfair Ranch Trail: 15630740, 15689757, 38861135 | |
| Geomyidae | Pocket Gophers | ||
| Thomomys bottae | Botta's Pocket Gopher | Mayfair Ranch Trail: 38869384, 38875049 | |
| Leporidae | Hares and Rabbits | ||
| Sylvilagus bachmani | Brush Rabbit | Mayfair Ranch Trail: 73152597, 74462983 | |
| Sciuridae | Squirrels | ||
| Neotamias merriami | Merriam's Chipmunk | Longwall Canyon Trail: 42605223; Mayfair Ranch Trail: 132863, 46538314 | |
| Otospermophilus beecheyi | California Ground Squirrel | Casa Loma Road: 47200360; Mayfair Ranch Trail: 2328803, 15629491, 53667091 | |
| Sciurus griseus | Western Gray Squirrel | Mayfair Ranch Trail: 73152599 |
The numbers are the observation ids; clicking on them opens them on the iNaturalist website. The --login_names option can be used to replace these observation ids with login names.
The interactive map shows the route and the iNaturalist observations along the hike. Like the iNaturalist website, the markers on the interactive map have different colors for different iconic taxa, e.g. markers for plants are green. Hovering the mouse over a marker shows the identification, clicking on a marker shows a thumbnail image, the identification, the observer, the date and a special status such as invasive or introduced. Another click on the thumbnail opens the observation on the iNaturalist website in another browser window.
This script is a command-line utility. It is called with options and filenames as arguments. These options are supported:
usage: inat_trails.py [-h] [--quality_grade QUALITY_GRADE] [--iconic_taxon ICONIC_TAXON] [--login_names] gpx_file [gpx_file ...]
positional arguments:
gpx_file Load GPS track from .gpx file.
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--quality_grade QUALITY_GRADE
Observation quality-grade, values: all, casual, needs_id, research; default research.
--iconic_taxon ICONIC_TAXON
Iconic taxon, values: all, Actinopterygii, Amphibia, Animalia, Arachnida, Aves, Chromista,
Fungi, Insecta, Mammalia, Mollusca, Plantae, Protozoa, Reptilia; default all.
--login_names Show login name instead of numeric observation id in table of observations.
--month Show only observations from this month and the previous and next months.
The --quality_grade option spcifies the desired quality-grade of the observations to be shown. By default, only research-grade observations are shown. Alternatively, all quality grades, or only casual and needs_id can be requested.
The --iconic_taxon option allows to restrict the observations to an iconic taxon. This can be used to display observations of e.g. only birds or only plants.
The --login_names option replaces the observation id number with the login name in the table of observations.
The --month option restricts observations to the current month and the previous
and next months. This is useful for seasonal observations such as wildflowers
or migratory birds.
A handful of dependencies need to be installed in order for inat_trails.py to run. Besides Python 3.7 or higher, a few packages are required. On Ubuntu or other
Debian-based Linux distributions the dependencies can be installed using:
sudo apt install --yes python3-pip python3-aiohttp python3-shapely
pip3 install folium
On other operating systems, Python 3.7 or later and pip must be installed first and then the dependencies can be installed with:
pip install aiohttp folium shapely
If necessary, pip3 should be used instead of pip to avoid accidentally installing Python 2 packages.