Journal archives for October 2024

October 16, 2024

Introducing Observation Fields

I have created two new observation fields. My hope is to make this project more useful to anyone performing photogrammetry with observations that have Swiss army knives.

The first observation field is: Swiss Army Knife for scale https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/18482

This field has a set list of frame length (in millimeters) for as many series of Swiss army knives as I could determine. This hopefully will reduce the error rate of length specification—something I have noticed on some observations. An approximate length is better than nothing, but a precise length is best. This observation field will appear any time a new observation is added to the project.

The second field is: Swiss Army Knife Brand/Model https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/18488

Including the correct model can be helpful: while the frame length is usually easy to determine, the thickness of a Swiss army knife varies depending on toolset. This is not a complete list of models. It has the most common models, and I can add more models as they are identified. For now, if a model does not appear, please select Model not listed.

Note: This field does not appear when adding a new observation. You will need to type in the name of the field to add it. (I worked with another project member on this and we decided that simpler would be better when it comes to encouraging other users to add their observations to the project.)

I've started to add these fields to observations, but it is a daunting task. I have been running the project for over a year. There are more than 1,000 observations that need to be reviewed and be updated with the new info. If you are interested in helping, please go right ahead!

The website https://sakwiki.com is loaded with info about virtually every knife model and its variants. It is very helpful in identifying models.

Posted on October 16, 2024 05:38 PM by ccoslor ccoslor | 4 comments | Leave a comment

October 28, 2024

You can help!

Hi All,

I'm excited to see that we have over 10 members now! I want to let people know about what I'm doing behind the scenes.

Currently there are 1,700 observations included in the project, and fewer than half of these have the new observation fields (see the last journal post for more info). These observations were added before I had set up the observation fields for length and model name, so they each need to be revisited and updated manually.

It is a daunting task to work through the backlog, and not straightforward to find the ones that need updating. Fortunately I have a convenient URL that can be used to bring up only the observations that still need updates:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?project_id=swiss-army-knives-of-inaturalist&subview=map&without_field=Swiss%20Army%20Knife%20for%20scale

If you follow that link you'll see the observations that still do not have the length added.

Of course if you add new observations to the project, please remember to add the length, and the model name if you recognize it. If you know the name and it's not listed, choose the 'Model not listed' option.

Posted on October 28, 2024 04:59 PM by ccoslor ccoslor | 3 comments | Leave a comment