The badge system is intended to recognise eligible activity across the full history of the Big Rock Pool Challenge. A comparison of the iNaturalist umbrella-project snapshot and Firestore observations identified two issues.
| Measure | Count |
|---|---|
| iNaturalist observations | 37,439 |
| Firestore observations | 33,029 |
| Present in both | 32,941 |
| iNaturalist observations absent from Firestore | 4,498 |
| Absent observations that are Research Grade | 2,938 |
| Firestore observations absent from iNaturalist snapshot | 88 |
The missing observations occur across multiple periods, not just the May 2026 National BioBlitz. The table below uses observation dates, rather than event membership.
| year | iNaturalist | In_Firestore | Missing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2024 | 2,324 | 2,313 | 11 |
| 2025 | 15,482 | 15,431 | 51 |
| 2026 | 19,629 | 15,197 | 4,432 |
Of the missing observations, 2671 were recorded during 24–31 May 2026; 1827 fall outside that period. These figures reflect the downloaded snapshot, taken before the Prestatyn project was removed from the umbrella.
A sample of Firestore documents for the same iNaturalist observer
(hamlet_ben) shows historical observations stored with a
UUID-like userId, while some newer observations use the
username hamlet_ben.
| id | observed_on | in_firebase | firestore_userId | firestore_teamId |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 255058822 | 2024-12-14 | TRUE | e4af4f97-05f6-4e8a-84c8-31b78daa2770 | NA |
| 283654153 | 2025-05-24 | TRUE | e4af4f97-05f6-4e8a-84c8-31b78daa2770 | NA |
| 284213604 | 2025-05-25 | TRUE | e4af4f97-05f6-4e8a-84c8-31b78daa2770 | NA |
| 315207649 | 2025-09-20 | TRUE | e4af4f97-05f6-4e8a-84c8-31b78daa2770 | NA |
| 327686365 | 2025-11-22 | TRUE | e4af4f97-05f6-4e8a-84c8-31b78daa2770 | NA |
| 329701223 | 2025-12-06 | TRUE | e4af4f97-05f6-4e8a-84c8-31b78daa2770 | NA |
| 335985036 | 2026-01-24 | TRUE | e4af4f97-05f6-4e8a-84c8-31b78daa2770 | NA |
| 356790691 | 2026-04-30 | TRUE | e4af4f97-05f6-4e8a-84c8-31b78daa2770 | NA |
| 368965492 | 2026-06-06 | TRUE | e4af4f97-05f6-4e8a-84c8-31b78daa2770 | 7015 |
| 374400534 | 2026-06-22 | TRUE | hamlet_ben | 8602 |
| 406523952 | 2026-10-07 | TRUE | hamlet_ben | 8310 |
This inconsistency could affect the association of historical observations with a participant’s badge progress. The data establishes the identifier mismatch, but does not by itself establish how the badge calculation handles these identifiers.