iNaturalist vs eOceans.

Both iNaturalist and eOceans let people record field observations using a mobile app that captures date and location from the user’s smartphone—but that’s where the similarities end. iNaturalist is excellent for citizen scientists and nature enthusiasts capturing species they can photograph. eOceans, however, is a patent-pending, professional-grade platform that integrates, processes, and analyzes data from any source—including but not limited to its field app.

It not only captures species occurrence, but also over 1 billion variable combinations. The system then produces automated maps, graphs, tables, and reports that describe what’s really happening at the project scale.

Here are 10 reasons why eOceans is different from iNaturalist:

1. Go Beyond Biodiversity

iNaturalist focuses almost exclusively on species presence.

eOceans supports a wide range of environmental and socio-ecological data, including fisheries, pollution, social values, blue carbon, policy, and the blue economy—so you can monitor and manage spaces holistically.

2. Own Your Data and Use it Ethically

iNaturalist defaults to open access; anyone can view and use your observations without declaring risks.

eOceans defaults to protecting exact sites and gives data contributors full control. Data producers choose the projects to share with, and sensitive location data are truncated and jittered to protect species, communities, and sites.

3. Deploy Any Sampling Method

iNaturalist supports opportunistic or blitz-style surveys focused on biodiversity.

eOceans supports any sampling method, from structured transects to fisheries catch-and-effort, eDNA outputs, tag and sensor deployments, or Indigenous/community-based monitoring.

4. Turn Data into Data Products

iNaturalist hosts opportunistic sightings, mostly as raw, presence-only data.

eOceans turns data into data products at the project scale: dashboards, maps, graphs, and reports update automatically as new data arrive, giving you a complete, science-grade picture without manual processing.

5. Scale, Scale, Scale: Merge Data from Any Source

iNaturalist is limited to its own photo-based observations.

eOceans ingests data from any source—historical datasets, sensors, community or Indigenous knowledge, and more—combining them into one coherent, analyzable dataset.

6. More than Presence: Absence, Abundance, Health, Behaviour

iNaturalist can only record what can be photographed.

eOceans can ingest various types of data at varying spatiotemporal scales, including presence and absence (zeros), relative abundance, size, health, behaviour, effort, and contextual metadata—critical for monitoring trends, detecting change, and informing management.

7. Not Everything Can Be (or Should Be) Photographed

iNaturalist requires photos to upload.

eOceans does not rely on photos. Researchers, explorers, and conservationists have collected valuable data for centuries without photographs. Historical datasets, field notes, and spreadsheets rarely include images, yet they remain critical for monitoring and analysis. In many real-world scenarios—poor visibility, fast-moving animals, or legal and ethical restrictions requiring distance—taking photos is impractical or prohibited. eOceans allows you to record these observations without photos, ensuring all important data are included.

8. Ethical, Science-Grade Data for Decision-Making

iNaturalist is designed for citizen science, often relying on AI for identification.

eOceans is built for professional, research-grade applications, helping governments, researchers, industry, ENGOs, and agencies generate credible, ethical data that can be used for policy, conservation, and management decisions.

If iNaturalist data are desired for a project, they can be ingested into a project through Magic Uploads™ in the eOceans platform.

9. Scalable, Integrated Projects

iNaturalist scales with user engagement and is limited to opportunistic observations.

eOceans scales across projects, regions, and datasets, integrating multiple sources into coherent, analyzable data products that describe trends and patterns.

10. Flexible for Any Mission

iNaturalist is primarily focused on citizen science and opportunistic biodiversity observations.

eOceans is flexible and mission-driven, supporting any project goal, sampling method, or scale. Citizen science is possible, but it’s only one of many ways to use the platform. Whether your mission involves environmental monitoring, fisheries management, blue carbon projects, or community-led conservation, eOceans adapts to your needs while producing science-grade, actionable data.