pyinaturalist 0.10.0

Python client for the iNaturalist APIs

=============================
pyinaturalist
=============================

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Python client for the `iNaturalist APIs <https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/api+reference>`_.
See full documentation at `<https://pyinaturalist.readthedocs.io>`_.

Installation
------------

Install with pip::

$ pip install pyinaturalist

Or, if you would like to use the latest development (non-stable) version::

$ pip install --pre pyinaturalist

Or, to set up for local development (preferably in a new virtualenv)::

$ git clone https://github.com/niconoe/pyinaturalist.git
$ cd pyinaturalist
$ pip install -Ue ".[dev]"

Development Status
------------------
Pyinaturalist is under active development. Currently, a handful of the most relevant API endpoints
are implemented, including:

* Searching, creating, and updating observations and observation fields
* Searching for species

See below for some examples,
see `Reference <https://pyinaturalist.readthedocs.io/en/latest/reference.html>`_ for a complete list, and
see `Issues <https://github.com/niconoe/pyinaturalist/issues>`_ for planned & proposed features.
More endpoints will continue to be added as they are needed. PRs are welcome!

.. note::
The two iNaturalist APIs expose a combined total of 103 endpoints. Many of these are primarily for
internal use by the iNaturalist web application and mobile apps, and are unlikely to be added unless
there are specific use cases for them.

.. 37 in REST API, 65 in Node API, 1 undocumented as of 2020-06-11

Examples
--------

Observations
^^^^^^^^^^^^

Search all observations matching a criteria:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. code-block:: python

from pyinaturalist.node_api import get_all_observations
obs = get_all_observations(params={'user_id': 'niconoe'})

See `available parameters <https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/docs/#!/Observations/get_observations/>`_.

For authenticated API calls, you first need to obtain a token for the user:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. code-block:: python

from pyinaturalist.rest_api import get_access_token
token = get_access_token(username='<your_inaturalist_username>', password='<your_inaturalist_password>',
app_id='<your_inaturalist_app_id>',
app_secret=<your_inaturalist_app_secret>)



Note: you'll need to `create an iNaturalist app <https://www.inaturalist.org/oauth/applications/new>`_.

Create a new observation:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. code-block:: python

from pyinaturalist.rest_api import create_observations
params = {'observation':
{'taxon_id': 54327, # Vespa Crabro
'observed_on_string': datetime.datetime.now().isoformat(),
'time_zone': 'Brussels',
'description': 'This is a free text comment for the observation',
'tag_list': 'wasp, Belgium',
'latitude': 50.647143,
'longitude': 4.360216,
'positional_accuracy': 50, # meters,

# sets vespawatch_id (an observation field whose ID is 9613) to the value '100'.
'observation_field_values_attributes':
[{'observation_field_id': 9613,'value': 100}],
},
}

r = create_observations(params=params, access_token=token)
new_observation_id = r[0]['id']

Upload a picture for this observation:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. code-block:: python

from pyinaturalist.rest_api import add_photo_to_observation
r = add_photo_to_observation(observation_id=new_observation_id,
file_object=open('/Users/nicolasnoe/vespa.jpg', 'rb'),
access_token=token)

Update an existing observation of yours:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. code-block:: python

from pyinaturalist.rest_api import update_observation
p = {'ignore_photos': 1, # Otherwise existing pictures will be deleted
'observation': {'description': 'updated description !'}}
r = update_observation(observation_id=17932425, params=p, access_token=token)


Get a list of all (globally available) observation fields:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. code-block:: python

from pyinaturalist.rest_api import get_all_observation_fields
r = get_all_observation_fields(search_query="DNA")

Sets an observation field value to an existing observation:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. code-block:: python

from pyinaturalist.rest_api import put_observation_field_values
put_observation_field_values(observation_id=7345179,
observation_field_id=9613,
value=250,
access_token=token)

Get observation data in alternative formats:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A separate endpoint can provide other data formats, including Darwin Core, KML, and CSV:

.. code-block:: python

from pyinaturalist.rest_api import get_observations
obs = get_observations(user_id='niconoe', response_format='dwc')

See `available parameters and formats <https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/api+reference#get-observations>`_.

Taxonomy
^^^^^^^^

Search for all taxa matching some criteria:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let's say you partially remember either a genus or family name that started with **'vespi'**-something:

.. code-block:: python

>>> from pyinaturalist.node_api import get_taxa
>>> response = get_taxa(q="vespi", rank=["genus", "family"])
>>> print({taxon["id"]: taxon["name"] for taxon in response["results"]})
{52747: "Vespidae", 84737: "Vespina", 92786: "Vespicula", 646195: "Vespiodes", ...}


Oh, that's right, it was **'Vespidae'**! Now let's find all of its subfamilies using its taxon ID
from the results above:

.. code-block:: python

>>> response = get_taxa(parent_id=52747)
>>> print({taxon["id"]: taxon["name"] for taxon in response["results"]})
{343248: "Polistinae", 84738: "Vespinae", 119344: "Eumeninae", 121511: "Masarinae", ...}

Get a specific taxon by ID:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let's find out more about this 'Polistinae' genus. We could search for it by name or by ID,
but since we already know the ID from the previous search, let's use that:

.. code-block:: python

>>> from pyinaturalist.node_api import get_taxa_by_id
>>> response = get_taxa_by_id(343248)

There is a lot of info in there, but let's just get the basics for now:

.. code-block:: python

>>> basic_fields = ["preferred_common_name", "observations_count", "wikipedia_url", "wikipedia_summary"]
>>> print({f: response["results"][0][f] for f in basic_fields})
{
"preferred_common_name": "Paper Wasps",
"observations_count": 69728,
"wikipedia_url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polistinae",
"wikipedia_summary": "The Polistinae are eusocial wasps closely related to the more familiar yellow jackets...",
}

Taxon autocomplete
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a text search-optimized endpoint that provides autocompletion in the Naturalist web UI:

.. image:: docs/images/taxon_autocomplete.png
:alt: Taxon autocompletion in the iNaturalist web UI
:scale: 60%

This one is a bit more niche, but it provides a fast way to search the iNaturalist taxonomy
database. Here is an example that will run searches from console input:

.. code-block:: python

from pyinaturalist.node_api import get_taxa_autocomplete

while True:
query = input("> ")
response = get_taxa_autocomplete(q=query, minify=True)
print("\n".join(response["results"]))

Example usage::

> opilio
527573: Genus Opilio
47367: Order Opiliones (Harvestmen)
84644: Species Phalangium opilio (European Harvestman)
527419: Subfamily Opilioninae
...
> coleo
372759: Subclass Coleoidea (Coleoids)
47208: Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
359229: Species Coleotechnites florae (Coleotechnites Flower Moth)
53502: Genus Brickellia (brickellbushes)
...
<Ctrl-C>

If you get unexpected matches, the search likely matched a synonym, either in the form of a
common name or an alternative classification. Check the ``matched_term`` property for more
info. For example:

.. code-block:: python

>>> first_result = get_taxa_autocomplete(q='zygoca')['results'][0]
>>> first_result["name"]
"Schlumbergera truncata"
>>> first_result["matched_term"]
"Zygocactus truncatus" # An older synonym for Schlumbergera


Dry-run mode
------------
While developing & testing an application that uses an API client like pyinaturalist, it can be
useful to temporarily mock out HTTP requests, especially requests that add, modify, or delete
real data. Pyinaturalist has some settings to make this easier.

Dry-run all requests
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
To enable dry-run mode, set the ``DRY_RUN_ENABLED`` variable. When set, requests will not be sent
but will be logged instead:

.. code-block:: python

>>> import logging
>>> import pyinaturalist

# Enable at least INFO-level logging
>>> logging.basicConfig(level='INFO')

>>> pyinaturalist.DRY_RUN_ENABLED = True
>>> get_taxa(q='warbler', locale=1)
{'results': [], 'total_results': 0}
INFO:pyinaturalist.api_requests:Request: GET, https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/taxa,
params={'q': 'warbler', 'locale': 1},
headers={'Accept': 'application/json', 'User-Agent': 'Pyinaturalist/0.9.1'}

Or, if you are running your application in a command-line environment, you can set this as an
environment variable instead (case-insensitive):

.. code-block:: bash

$ export DRY_RUN_ENABLED=true
$ python my_script.py

Dry-run only write requests
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If you would like to run ``GET`` requests but mock out any requests that modify data
(``POST``, ``PUT``, ``DELETE``, etc.), you can use the ``DRY_RUN_WRITE_ONLY`` variable
instead:

.. code-block:: python

>>> pyinaturalist.DRY_RUN_WRITE_ONLY = True

# Also works as an environment variable
>>> import os
>>> os.environ["DRY_RUN_WRITE_ONLY"] = 'True'


History
-------

0.10.0 (2020-06-16)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* Added more info & examples to README for taxa endpoints, and other documentation improvements
* Added `minify` option to `node_api.get_taxa_autocomplete()`
* Added conversion for all date and datetime parameters to timezone-aware ISO 8601 timestamps
* Added a dry-run mode to mock out API requests for testing
* Added 6 additional observation response formats, including GeoJSON, Darwin Core, and others
* Set up pre-release builds for latest development version

0.9.1 (2020-05-26)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* Bugfix: proper support for boolean and integer list parameters (see https://github.com/niconoe/pyinaturalist/issues/17). Thanks Jordan Cook!

0.9.0 (2020-05-06)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* new taxa-related functions: node_api.get_taxa(), node_api.get_taxa_autocomplete(), node_api.get_taxa_by_id(). Many thanks to Jordan Cook!

0.8.0 (2019-07-11)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* all functions now take an optional `user-agent <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent>`_ parameter in order to identify yourself to iNaturalist. If not set, `Pyinaturalist/<VERSION>` will be used.

0.7.0 (2019-05-08)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* rest_api.delete_observation() now raises ObservationNotFound if the observation doesn't exists
* minor dependencies update for security reasons

0.6.0 (2018-11-15)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* New function: rest_api.delete_observation()

0.5.0 (2018-11-05)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* New function: node_api.get_observation()

0.4.0 (2018-11-05)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* create_observation() now raises exceptions in case of errors.

0.3.0 (2018-11-05)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* update_observation() now raises exceptions in case of errors.

0.2.0 (2018-10-31)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* Better infrastructure (type annotations, documentation, ...)
* Dropped support for Python 2.
* New function: update_observation()
* rest_api.AuthenticationError is now exceptions.AuthenticationError


0.1.0 (2018-10-10)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* First release on PyPI.