Skip to main content

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 are the best way to keep your timeline organized and easy to read. By assigning a custom name to a location (e.g., "Home", "Office", "Gym"), you ensure that any visit to that place is always labeled correctly, overriding any automatic naming.

There are two types of favorites you can create:

  • Favorite Point: A single, specific location on the map. All your GPS points within 75 meters of this point will be associated with this favorite. This is perfect for smaller, well-defined places.
  • Favorite Area: A rectangular zone that you draw on the map. Any GPS points that fall inside this rectangle will be associated with this favorite. This is ideal for larger areas where you might move around, such as a university campus, a large park, or a shopping mall.

The Favorites Management Page​

The central hub for managing your favorites is the Favorites Management page, accessible from the main application menu. This page provides a comprehensive set of tools:

  • Interactive Map: A full-screen map that visually displays all your Favorite Points and Areas.
  • Filter and Search: Quickly find favorites by filtering by type (Point or Area) or searching by name, city, or country.
  • Detailed Table: A sortable list of all your favorites with key details, along with actions to manage them.

How to Create a Favorite​

There are three primary ways to create a new Favorite Location:

1. From the Timeline Page Map

You can quickly add a favorite directly from the interactive map on your Timeline page.

  1. Open your Timeline page.
  2. Right-click anywhere on the map where you want to add a favorite.
  3. A context menu will appear. Choose one of the following:
    • Add point to favorites: To create a Favorite Point at the clicked location.
    • Add area to favorites: To begin drawing a Favorite Area. Click and drag on the map to define the rectangular area.
  4. A dialog box will appear. Enter a descriptive name for your new favorite and click Save.

2. From the Favorites Management Page

This is the most direct way to add a new favorite from scratch.

  1. Navigate to the Favorites Management page.
  2. On the map, right-click where you want to add your favorite.
  3. A context menu will appear. Choose one of the following:
    • Add to Favorites: To create a Favorite Point at the location you clicked.
    • Add an area to Favorites: To begin drawing a Favorite Area. Click and drag on the map to draw the rectangle that defines your area.
  4. A dialog box will appear. Enter a descriptive name for your new favorite and click Save.

3. From a Place's Detail Page

You can easily "promote" any location you've visited to a Favorite.

  1. From your Timeline or another page, click on a location to navigate to its Place Details page.
  2. If the location is not already a favorite, you will see an "Add to Favorites" button in the header.
  3. Click the button, give the location a custom name, and save it. This creates a new Favorite Point at that location's coordinates.

Editing and Deleting Favorites​

All editing and deleting is done from the Favorites Management page.

  1. Find the favorite you wish to modify in the table.
  2. In the Actions column, click the appropriate button:
    • Edit (pencil icon): Allows you to change the name of the favorite.
    • Delete (trash icon): Permanently removes the favorite.

Important: Creating or deleting a favorite will automatically trigger a timeline regeneration. This is necessary because changing a favorite can affect how past stays and trips are named and organized. The process is automatic and runs in the background.

Understanding Reverse Geocoding​

For any location that is not covered by one of your favorites, GeoPulse uses a process called reverse geocoding to convert raw GPS coordinates into a human-readable address (e.g., “Kyiv City Center” or “Berlin Hauptbahnhof”).

How GeoPulse Resolves Location Names​

When your timeline identifies a stay at a location, the system follows a clear priority order to name that place:

  1. Favorite Locations (Highest Priority): If the stay's coordinates fall within one of your Favorite Points or Areas, the custom favorite name is always used.

  2. Cached Reverse Geocoding Results: GeoPulse saves all successful geocoding results. If the location has been identified before, the system reuses the stored name for speed and efficiency.

  3. Primary Reverse Geocoding Provider: If the location is new, GeoPulse queries the primary provider you have configured in the system settings.

  4. Failover Provider: If the primary provider fails or returns no result, the system automatically tries the configured failover provider.

  5. Fallback: Unknown Location: If all other methods fail, the stay is labeled “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 of the GeoPulse instance.

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.