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Managing Places: Favorites and Geocoding

GeoPulse gives you powerful tools to manage how locations are named in your timeline. You can set custom names for places you visit often using Favorite Locations, and for all other places, GeoPulse uses a process called Reverse Geocoding to provide meaningful names.

Favorite Locations​

Favorite Locations let you assign custom names to specific places on your Timeline Map. They are the easiest way to keep your Timeline organized and meaningful, as they always override any automatic results.

There are two types of favorites:

Favorite Point​

A single location on the map. All GPS points within 75 meters of this point will use the custom name you assign. Use this to label frequently visited places like Home, Office, or Gym.

Favorite Area​

A rectangular zone you draw on the map. All GPS points inside that rectangle, and within 15 meters outside its border, will use the same custom name. Use this for larger areas such as parks, malls, or city squares.

Add a Favorite Point or Area​

  1. Open your Timeline Map.
  2. Right-click anywhere on the map.
  3. Choose one of the following options:
    • Add to Favorites – to create a Favorite Point.
    • Add an Area to Favorites – to create a Favorite Area.
  4. (For areas only) Draw a rectangle covering the desired region.
  5. Enter a custom name and click Save.

Edit or Delete a Favorite Location​

  1. Open your Timeline Map.
  2. Click the bookmark icon in the top-right corner to show all your Favorite Locations.
  3. Find the Favorite you want to change.
  4. Right-click on it and choose:
    • Edit – to update its name or area.
    • Delete – to remove it.

Understanding Reverse Geocoding​

For any location that is not marked as a favorite, GeoPulse uses reverse geocoding to convert GPS coordinates into human-readable location names (e.g., “Kyiv City Center” or “Berlin Hauptbahnhof”). This information is displayed throughout the application.

How GeoPulse Resolves Location Names​

When the Timeline detects a stay (visit) at a specific location, GeoPulse tries to determine the best name for that place. The resolution order is:

  1. Favorite Locations If the coordinate falls within a Favorite Point or Favorite Area, the favorite name is used immediately. (Highest priority)

  2. Cached Reverse Geocoding Results GeoPulse stores all reverse geocoding results in the database. If a matching entry already exists, it is reused to improve performance and avoid unnecessary requests to external providers.

  3. Primary Reverse Geocoding Provider If the database contains no result, GeoPulse queries the primary configured provider. If successful, the result is saved for future use.

  4. Failover Provider If the primary provider fails, GeoPulse automatically tries the failover provider.

  5. Fallback: Unknown Location If all providers fail, GeoPulse assigns the default label “Unknown location”.

Managing Cached Geocoding Data​

Advanced users can view and maintain the cached reverse geocoding results from the Reverse Geocoding Management page (/app/geocoding-management). This page allows you to search, refresh (reconcile), and manually edit stored geocoding results.

Important: Currently, all changes on this page affect all users.

Key features of this page include:

  • Search Records: Find entries by provider, location name, city, or country.
  • Reconcile Selected Records: Refresh one or more entries using a specific provider. This is useful if you change providers and want to update existing data.
  • Reconcile All: Refresh every stored entry. Use with caution, as this can be a long-running process.
  • Manual Editing: Manually update the display name, city, or country for any record.