Location & Map¶
Give items a latitude and longitude, and find them on a map.
Location is item metadata (latitude / longitude), independent of tags. It can be attached to any file kind, not just photos.
Adding a location¶
Automatically from images¶
When importing images, the location is extracted automatically from EXIF GPS data. Photos taken on a phone usually land on the map as-is.
Entering it by hand¶
Type latitude, longitude into the Inspector's "Location" field.
- Confirm with Enter
- Clear the field and confirm to remove the location
The format matches what you can copy from Google Maps and similar services.
Picking a point on the map¶
- Select items in the grid
- Switch to the map view
- Right-click the map → "Place N selected items here"
Bulk-setting multiple items¶
Select multiple items and a "Location (bulk)" field appears in the Inspector. It sets or removes the same coordinates on every selected item.
If all items share the same coordinates they are shown initially; otherwise the field is empty.
Removing a location¶
There are three ways.
| How | Applies to | Undoable with Cmd+Z |
|---|---|---|
| Clear the Inspector's "Location" field and press Enter | One item | ✅ |
| Clear the Inspector's "Location (bulk)" field and confirm | Every selected item | ✅ |
| Right-click a pin on the map → "Remove Location" | That one pin | ✅ |
The third one is for when you're looking at the map and spot a pin in the wrong place — you can drop it without going back to the list.
Actions taken on the map can be undone too
"Remove Location" on a pin, and "Place N selected items here" from the map's context menu, do enter the Cmd+Z / Ctrl+Z history. Pressing it restores the previous coordinates.
The map view¶
The fourth view in the toolbar switcher (the pin icon).
- Shows only items that match the current filter (tags, search, kind) and have a location, as pins
- Pin color inherits the group color of the item's first tag
- The first display auto-zooms to fit all pins; with no pins, it shows all of Japan
Jump to a selected item's location¶
Select a single item that has a location, and a "Show on Map" button appears next to the "Location" heading in the Inspector. Press it to open the map view centered on those coordinates.
One click answers "where did I take this photo, again?"
Following a pin¶
Click a pin to open a popup (file name + thumbnail + two buttons).
"Preview" shows the item full size right there, without leaving the map — handy for confirming "is this the right photo?" while looking at where it was taken. Close it with Esc or Space and you are back on the map, right where you were. Pins have no "previous" or "next", so a preview opened from the map has no Left Right stepping (it still works from the grid and list views).
Space works too
With a pin selected (just click it), pressing Space opens the same preview — the same key as in the grid and list views.
The other button behaves like link jumps.
| Kind | Action |
|---|---|
| Note | Opens in the editor |
| Anything else | Switches to the grid, showing and selecting just that item |
External apps are never launched.
Searching for a place¶
Type a place name, station, or landmark into the search box at the top right of the map and press Enter.
- Up to 5 candidates appear
- Place names come back in the language set in Settings → Appearance
- Choosing one moves the map there (areas fit to bounds; points zoom to level 15)
- It does not filter the pins — it only moves the map
Your search text is sent to an external service
To turn a place name into coordinates, what you type is sent to OpenStreetMap's place search (Nominatim). It is sent only when you press Enter — nothing goes out while you are still typing. To look up an address you would rather keep private, pan the map there instead of searching.
→ Privacy
Moving the map from the keyboard¶
Switching to the map view puts the map ready for key input right away, so these work without reaching for the mouse.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Up Down Left Right | Pan the map |
| Shift + arrows | Pan further (3×) |
| + / - | Zoom in / out |
| Shift + + / - | Zoom 3 levels at a time |
| Esc | Close a pin's popup |
Esc always brings you back to the map. Not just from the place search box — after picking a tag in the sidebar or typing in the Inspector, Esc returns focus to the map so the arrow keys work again (the same idea as Esc returning to the file list in the grid and list views).
The map and offline use¶
The map's background tiles come from the online OpenStreetMap service.
The map is one of the few places where Melanite talks to the outside world (the other is importing from a URL). Only the map area you are viewing is sent — your pins and the photos themselves never leave your computer. → Privacy
When offline, only the map background is missing; pin coordinates and the rest of the app are unaffected.
Map areas you have already viewed are kept on your computer (in the OS cache), so:
- revisiting the same area draws faster, and
- areas you have already seen still render while offline.
The cache lives outside your library folder, so it does not affect library backups or their size. Old tiles are cleaned up automatically — there is nothing to delete by hand.
Combining with capture dates¶
Turn on "apply EXIF capture time to the modified date" in Settings → "Import" tab, and photos line up on the calendar by shooting date.
The map answers "where was this taken", the calendar "when", and tags "what" — three axes over the same library.