Map: Most popular spots for nature photography in the Bay Area

A new visualization from Logan Williams shows where “tourists” and “locals” share photos of plants, animals and more with iNaturalist. When tourists come to the San Francisco Bay Area, where do they flock for nature photography opportunities? And where do locals like to record encounters with river otters, lovely periwinkles and the weird fungus called “hairy curtain crust”?

The answers are revealed in this intriguing data visualization of photos uploaded to iNaturalist , a digital tool that allows people to document flora and fauna and share it with others and the scientific community. It’s a joint effort from the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society.

The viz covers the entire world, but here in the Bay, you’ll see tourist hot spots around the Embarcadero and Fisherman’s Wharf, UC Berkeley, Muir Woods and Point Reyes National Seashore. Local shutterbugs, meanwhile, seem to commune with nature on the mountain trails […]

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