Some time ago I asked in the forum how to work with geolocations, so I can tag location data along my notes. I was not happy with the existing options so I wrote the Map View plugin, which as of today is part of the Obsidian Community Plugins.
Map View gives you a map-based view of your notes, filterable by tags, with many possible customization options (and more to come).
At least for me, it’s a key component in making my notes more useful.
Hope it can help others as much as it does for me!
@esm90 I created a forum account just to say thanks for this plugin.
I have tried to use several tools to track map locations for places I have visited and want to visit again (trails, sights, restaurants etc) over the years. Just a map on which I can view my pinned locations, paired with my notes about the place and maybe a photo or two.
I’ve tried Evernote, Google Maps, ScoutLog, various mobile apps. None of them ever really worked well.
I’d love to have a simple solution like this with my Obsidian notes. Thank you!
What do you do with regular Obsidian #tags? Do you somehow make them not show in preview/reading mode?
Either way, I think it should be possible to style inline tags with a CSS class of their own, and thus make them not be displayed as part of a theme or a user customization. If that’s what you want, do you mind opening an issue so it won’t be forgotten?
I find this plugin fantastic! Thank you very much for it!
I posted a question on GitHub, but maybe it was the wrong place for this - so I’ll post it here as well, maybe somebody can help me with it. It is about integrating Google Maps instead of OpenStreetMap.
"I have created a Google Maps API and want to enter the respective “generic” (?) URL in “Map Sources” in the Map View options page. I have tried a couple of URLs that I had thought would work - but none did. I think I have to find something that has the “generic” “x” and “y” items, but I am honestly not really sure what I am looking for.
Also, which map style (“view”, “place”, …) for Google Maps is the one I would use to have a view that is similar to the default OpenStreetMap view?
I have the geo-coordinates in my notes with a clickable link symbol. I would expect that clicking on that it would open the Map View map – ideally in a new pane. Instead there is a small window asking me if I really want to open that link; when I say “yes” I have to indicate a program to open with.
Am I missing something here? Could somebody explain what I am supposed to do to open that link in Map View?
Another question right away - haven’t worked with Map View in a while and now my vacation is coming up …
Using the search function (the magnifying glass top right) I used to be able to find addresses on the globe - this does not seem to be possible any longer; I can only find locations that I have entered / named myself before.
Can anybody help me with that?
Clicking links: currently clicking a geo link opens your default app for geo links (e.g. a local mapping app). To open it with Map View, right-click and choose “show on map”. (People have asked to change this, and I will.)
Geo search: the search function had only gotten better since you used it Assuming you have the most recent version of the plugin (2.0.5), if you don’t get locations in search, check under the plugin settings what you have set for “geocoding search provider”.
Most basically, “OpenStreetMap” should always work. If it doesn’t, please open an issue here so we can investigate it further.
If you wanna use Google Places, see the instructions in the README for how to get an API key. Maybe you used an API key in the past and it expired?
Thanks for helping! Got “clicking links” now! (Does work in “editor” and “live preview” mode as you described - apparently not in “reading” mode).
I will check out the search issue later.
Cheers!
Further to the search function: Switching the “geocoding search provider” to OpenStreetMap did the trick! Great!
Google Maps does not work even though I have an API key. Don’t understand this, but gladly don’t have to worry about it anymore …
Happy to hear the OSM search provider works for you.
If you happen to want to switch to Google API again (e.g. if you’re not happy with the results OSM returns), you probably need to recreate your Google API key according to the instructions linked from the README.
Thanks for creating this plugin. I’m thinking about doing some historical research about China so this will help me a lot. Much appreciate your work.
I got two questions here:
(1) Is it possible to use Baidu Maps as the map source in your plugin? Baidu Maps seems to be the most popular map in China (Google Maps is not allowed there). I live in Australia but considering that I might move to China in the future I reckon it’s best to choose a map source that really works in China with the Mandarin Chinese UI.
(2) Can Map View plugin work with any timeline plugin so we can have a three-dimensional structure of the historical notes? This will greatly help the depth of my historical research.
Assuming you have the most recent version of the plugin (2.0.5), if you don’t get locations in search, check under the plugin settings what you have set for “geocoding search provider”.
