# How is iNaturalist data identified?

**URL:** <https://discourse.gbif.org/t/how-is-inaturalist-data-identified/4240>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous\
**Created:** [December 12, 2023, 8:13pm UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/how-is-inaturalist-data-identified/4240 "2023-12-12T20:13:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![plantarum](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/gbif1/user_avatar/discourse.gbif.org/plantarum/32/863_2.png) [@plantarum](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/plantarum)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2023, 8:13pm UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/how-is-inaturalist-data-identified/4240/1 "2023-12-12T20:13:51Z")

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Hi again,

Apologies for what seems like a very basic question, but should I be using `institutionCode == iNaturalist` to select all iNat observations in a DWCA table? This seems correct, but I noticed I would get different subsets if I used `publisher == iNaturalist.org`, or `datasetName == iNaturalist research-grade observations`.

Looking at the web search page, I think there are six different publishers using the `iNaturalist` `institutionCode`, and eight separate `datasetName` values. If I’m doing a global macroecological study, should I scoop them all up via `institutionCode`, or should I be excluding some of the smaller subsets?

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**Author:** ![dnoesgaard](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/gbif1/user_avatar/discourse.gbif.org/dnoesgaard/32/8_2.png) [@dnoesgaard](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/dnoesgaard)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 7:25am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/how-is-inaturalist-data-identified/4240/2 "2023-12-13T07:25:05Z")

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Hi,

Safest bet is to use `datasetKey` == “50c9509d-22c7-4a22-a47d-8c48425ef4a7”

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/gbif1/original/1X/d2525d53d815eb0c992cc44730ed8a6a1be1dbb5.png) [@system](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 5:25pm UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/how-is-inaturalist-data-identified/4240/3 "2024-01-12T17:25:48Z")

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