A Mini Manual: Tricks n' Tips

>Search
>Moving Maps & Changing Location
>All Pins on a Map
>Moving a location pin on the Map
>Centering the map on a location
>Tricks in Rating Places
>Removing a Location

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Search
The key to searching on PublicEarth is understanding that we prioritize the map you're looking at, but also give you options to move the map. Want to search in Paris? Type it in, and it will look for places with the name Paris in your map - but you'll also be given a link or dropdown to move the map to Paris.

How do I "move the map"?
Simply type a place name, city, address, region, or even latitude and longitude coordinates into the search field. We also display (at the top right of the map) a notice of "where you are." It should say something like "Boulder, CO" or "Santa Cruz, CA" -- and next to it is a "change location" link. Type any location-based clue, if you'd like, and we'll do our best to identify where you want to explore.

Can I turn on all the pins on a map?
Yes, sort of. At the bottom left corner of the map is a button that says "all pins". The button is only accessible if the map is zoomed in close enough; it's designed to allow you to closely explore a region - either if you plan on entering a new place and want to verify that it's not already there, or you're just curious about what's going on at the street level.

Once enabled, "All Pins" remains on until you turn it off, but it won't display all the pins on the map at more distant views - it will post a notice to zoom in to engage the feature.

Moving a Location Pin on the Map
Because the site is a wiki, virtually anything can be modified by users. Moving the location of a pin is no exception. At the bottom of each Details page, you'll find a "Edit Map Pin Location" link. It's also accessible when you're in Edit mode.

When you click "Edit Page":

the page changes to display all editable sections. The link above the "mini map":

takes you to a version of the Create page where you can reposition a pin, or re-edit a complex region or trail. When you're done, Save your work, and the pin is re-positioned.

Centering a place on the map

This is a hidden feature, not because it isn't important or useful, but only because our engineering team put it in and didn't tell anyone...
When you have a list of results on the Search & Explore page, moving the cursor over the NAME gives you a flyout of information; clicking on the name takes you to the details page on that place; you can click on the the SAVE button to put the place in your Saved Places... and if you click on the ICON at the far left of the row, you'll move this place to the center of the map.

Tricks in Rating Places
The locations displayed for you to rate on the Rate Places page are based on your present location. If you move a map to some other place, your location changes and the places shown here will change correspondingly. If you don't like where it has placed you, click Change Location to set yourself in a new place.

The places displayed are from a mix of categories, and show newer places before older ones. If you want to drill into a single category for rating, simply click on the name of the category you want. The entire set will then be from this one category. Like this:
BEFORE

AFTER

Removing a Location
There are any number of reasons you'd want to remove a pin from the map - although the most two most common are that it's a duplicate record or it's no longer there (or open). The way to remove a place is to go to the Details page (click on the pin) and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Click on the REMOVE THIS PLACE link, which opens a dialog for you to complete. Once submitted, it removes the place from our search index, and "flags" the page as being marked for deletion. The process takes a day or two, and in that time, the pin won't show up in searches or browsing. If someone accesses the page through a bookmarked URL, they will see a banner across the top of the page indicating the reason someone deleted the page - and importantly, an option to "un-delete" it if the deletion was undeserved. Malicious deletions are not well received.