It is important to have your observation coordinate visibility set so that VAL team members and biologists can see the exact location of your observation. This is necessary for us to be able to use your observations as data in scientific studies and reports. When you first join VAL on iNat, your coordinate visibility settings are often set to "Yes, but only if I add the observation to the project myself", which can cause problems for observations that are added to the project automatically or by another user.

To set your observation coordinate visibility when you are joining the project, please see Joining VAL on iNaturalist.

To change your settings as a member of the project, you first need to go to the VAL on iNaturalist project page. Once there, scroll down to the options below "Members". The first option is "Your Membership"--click there. You will then see all the observations you have contributed to the project. To the right of those, you will see "Settings" and go to the second question "Do you want to make your private/obscured coordinates visible to the project curators?". Look at the options below the question and please change the setting to "Yes, no matter who adds the observation to the project". You can then leave the project page and your changes will automatically be saved.