Transparency
How WildPins verifies wildlife information
WildPins separates identification results, live environmental data, community reports, and general reference facts so users can see what each claim is based on.
Source hierarchy
| Information type | Preferred source | Required label |
|---|---|---|
| Live bird movement | BirdCast live radar or local dashboard | Live or last-night movement, with timestamp |
| Migration forecast | BirdCast forecast model | Forecast—not an observation |
| Recent species presence | eBird recent checklists plus local confirmation | Reported nearby, with date range |
| Identification and life history | Cornell species accounts, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, state/provincial/regional wildlife authorities, peer-reviewed sources | Reference fact |
| Community sighting | Member-submitted photo, sound, date, and location | Community report; verification level shown |
| Safety alert | Time-limited member report or official notice | Alert time, broad location, expiration |
| Nearby state parks and natural areas | Google Places as the primary park source, with OpenStreetMap as a backup and park/agency pages used for final trip confirmation | Nearby place result; confirm current access before visiting |
| Daily wildlife sound challenge | NPS public-domain recordings; source-linked Wikimedia Commons / Xeno-canto field recordings with visible licensing | Natural field recording; source/license shown after reveal |
Park finder source limits
The public Parks Near You tool uses Google Places as its primary source for state-park names, addresses, map links, and locations. If Google Places is unavailable or returns no matches, WildPins can fall back to OpenStreetMap community place data. Place databases can still be incomplete or change over time, so WildPins asks visitors to confirm current hours, closures, fees, permits, trail conditions, and rules with the managing agency before traveling.
Wildlife sound standards
The Daily Sound Challenge uses natural field recordings rather than generated or synthesized animal calls. Preferred sources are public-domain government sound libraries such as the National Park Service, followed by source-linked Wikimedia Commons recordings whose file pages identify the species, creator or originating archive, and reuse license. Xeno-canto recordings may be used when the specific recording metadata and license are visible through the source record. Cornell/Macaulay Library is an important identification reference, but WildPins does not copy its personal-use sound-guide files into the challenge without the required media permission.
YouTube clips are not used as the website's source audio unless the original recording owner and reuse rights can be established. Each Daily Sound Challenge reveal links to the recording's source and license information.
What AI is allowed to do
AI may summarize approved sources, suggest a possible species, or draft an article for editorial review. It must not invent a current migration event, claim a species is present at an exact location without evidence, hide uncertainty, or turn a reference image into proof of a sighting.
Publication checklist
- Use at least one authoritative source for stable facts.
- Use a time-stamped source for anything described as current.
- Cross-check surprising or rare claims with a second source.
- Record the region and date reviewed.
- Label community data separately from verified reference facts.
- Correct or remove stale information.
Photo transparency
Every map popup should distinguish the member’s original image from a generic species reference image. The date the sighting was reported is not automatically the date the photo was taken, and the interface should say so when capture metadata is unavailable.