iNatSpectro — Japh

iNatSpectro v4.3.2 — Visualise Nature's Sounds on iNaturalist

This extension adds a dynamic spectrogram visualisation beneath audio recordings on iNaturalist observation pages. Whether you're identifying frog calls, bat echolocation, bird songs, insect stridulation, or cetacean vocalisations, iNatSpectro lets you see what you're hearing — instantly, in your browser, with no data sent anywhere.

🎧 Why use it?
Many wildlife sounds are far easier to interpret with visual context — especially in noisy environments or when calls are tricky to distinguish by ear. iNatSpectro helps researchers, identifiers, and curious naturalists analyse recordings at a glance, right where the observation lives.

🔬 How it works
The extension uses the Web Audio API to render a spectrogram whenever you play an audio file on an iNaturalist observation page. It loads automatically and blends seamlessly with the existing layout. All processing happens locally in your browser — nothing is collected or transmitted.

🔍 Features in v4.3.2:

• Automatic spectrogram loading on observation and Identify pages, including full support for the Identify page's observation modal
• Eight perceptually uniform colour maps — Viridis, Magma, Plasma, Inferno, Cividis, Mako, Rocket, Turbo — plus Greyscale
• Full spectrum analysis including ultrasonic frequencies up to 384 kHz for bat research
• Automatic taxon-based profile selection (bat, bird, frog, insect, cetacean, general) with improved accuracy for bats, frogs, insects, and cetaceans
• Multiple frequency scales — logarithmic, linear, and mel (perceptual)
• Smooth zoom from 100% to 2000% with progressive high-resolution rendering
• Spectrogram export — save spectrograms as image files to share or annotate your findings 🖼
• iNaturalist Global Network support — works on New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Argentina, Uruguay, BioDiversity4All, and more
• GUANO metadata support — reads embedded bat detector metadata from audio files
• Sound annotations saved as iNaturalist Observation Fields, keeping your work right on the observation record
• Edit mode for annotations — marks are protected from accidental changes until you explicitly enable editing, with confirmation required before any deletion
• Training dataset contribution (opt-in only) — nothing is ever sent without your action
• Configurable high-resolution rendering (50–800 pixels/second) with automatic performance optimisation
• Intelligent LRU caching for smooth performance across long sessions
• Peak decimation rendering — no signal energy is ever dropped, even for very short calls
• Percentile-based normalisation for robust dynamic range across varied recordings
• Sharp rendering on high-DPI and retina displays
• No tracking, lightweight — built specifically for the iNaturalist community 🌿

🧬 Perfect for:
• Citizen scientists and professional biologists
• Bat, frog, bird, insect, and cetacean call analysis
• Educators and ecoacoustics enthusiasts
• Research-grade bioacoustic work up to 384 kHz
• Anyone who wants to bring audio observations to life visually

🚀 What's New in v4.3.2:
• Smarter profile auto-detection on the Identify page — the observation modal is now scoped correctly, so bats, frogs, and other taxa no longer fall back to the General profile when opened in the Identify modal. Species like Kuhl's Pipistrelle that don't carry "bat" in their name now route correctly via an API taxonomy lookup 🦇
• Improved sub-profile routing across the board — Bat, Insect, Frog, and Cetacean sub-profiles are now routed using a validated, annotation-grounded methodology. Bat ultrasonic/audible accuracy improved from 79% to 90%; insect high/low from 61% to 81%. Frog High/Low now uses a statistically stable frequency threshold. Baleen vs toothed cetacean routing is now taxonomy-based (Mysticeti vs Odontoceti), reflecting real biological differences in vocal anatomy rather than a frequency guess
• Profile tuning with human review — profiles have been re-aggregated after routing fixes, with a new human review step in the tuning pipeline ensuring meaningful quality improvements reach each release
• Edit mode for annotations