How does iNaturalist protect the locations of sensitive species?

All observations have a "taxon geoprivacy" setting, which determines what, if any, location for the observation is publicly shown. In all cases, the observer can see the true coordinates of the observation when they're logged in to their account.

The three available settings are:

Open: the coordinates of the observation are viewable by any member of the public

Obscured: For the observation's public location, iNaturalist places a randomly chosen point within a 0.2 x 0.2 degree rectangle (about 500 sq km at the equator, or about the same size as the Isle of Man) that includes the true location of the observation. So anyone can see the general area where the observation was made, but not the specific location.

Private: the coordinates are not publicly shown. 

In cases where the species is determined to be threatened by location disclosure on iNaturalist, like poaching or disturbance, iNaturalist automatically sets the taxon geoprivacy to "Obscured" and in a small number of cases "Private". This makes it difficult for anyone to find the true location of sensitive species.