Plant Identification Apps: Which is right for you iNaturalist of LeafSnap?

 Which is right for you iNaturalist of LeafSnap?

I used iNaturalist for plant identification. Its design has both positive and negative aspects. If you are seeking immediate answers, iNaturalist is probably not going to be your first choice. In order to get an identification of a plant species, I had to load the picture to the iNaturalist community and wait for a reply. About 48 hours ago, I uploaded two species and have gotten an identification for one of them. On the positive side, iNaturalist is much more than a species identifier. It has features that allow you to explore the natural area around you, review a variety of naturalist guides, and allows you to search for citizen science projects in which you could potentially participate. iNaturalist has an ecology-meets-social-media vibe and could be a valuable asset for those seeking such connections. Given the robustness of its features, iNaturalist is worth exploring.

LeafSnap was able to identify this image as Chinese privet (Image Source: Tom Johnson)


If you want immediate answers, LeafSnap is for you. If you want 100% reliability, then a slower app with human experts in the background might be your thing. While I am not a plant identification master, I found 10% to 25% of the instant identification results from LeafSnap to be somewhat questionable. My basis for this assessment is that a minority of the time, the pictures LeafSnap brings up for comparison do not appear to be the same species as the picture I uploaded. They give other options with diminishing likelihood and you scroll down. Still, Leafsnap’s ability to produce accurate results the majority of the time is impressive, especially to those that want immediate answers. I like how the user can take pictures within the app or upload pictures that they already took. I snapped a bunch of photos of my research site and went back to LeafSnap later for consultation.

That may be LeafSnap's greatest use - as a consultant. I found it most useful when I had a vague idea of the species and LeafSnap was able to confirm my suspicion. This line of thought, however, raises the concern of confirmation bias. It is tempting to ignore LeafSnap matches that don’t make sense and only give credence to matches that confirm your suspicion. Naturalists should be careful when using the app to distinguish between confirmation of prior knowledge and confirmation bias.

 

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