Geographic Features - banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots GitHub Wiki

Geographic Features

Charted Roots provides comprehensive place-based features for tracking where people were born, died, married, and lived. These features support both real-world genealogy and world-building with fictional places.

Interactive Map View
Maps Tab (Control Center)
Place Notes
Life Events Array
Journey Paths (Route Visualization)
Journey Mode
Place Statistics
Data Quality Card
Place Visualizations
Merge Duplicate Places
Place-Based Tree Filtering
Place Lookup
Custom Place Types
Using Obsidian Maps Alongside Charted Roots
Settings
- Category-Based Organization

Interactive Map View

The Map View provides a Leaflet.js-powered interactive map for visualizing where your family members lived, traveled, and died.

Opening Map View

Option 1: Maps Tab (Control Center)

Open Control Center → Maps tab
Click Open Map View in the first card

Option 2: Command Palette

Open Command Palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P)
Search for "Charted Roots: Open Map View"

Option 3: Custom Maps Gallery

In the Maps tab, click any custom map thumbnail to open it directly in Map View

Option 4: Context Menu

Right-click on a map note and select "Open in Map View"

Map Features

Feature	Description
Markers	Color-coded pins for birth (green), death (red), marriage (purple), burial (gray), and life events
Clustering	Dense marker areas collapse into numbered clusters; click to zoom in
Migration Paths	Solid indigo lines connecting birth → death locations with person name labels
Journey Paths	Dashed violet lines connecting all life events chronologically
Heat Map	Geographic concentration visualization showing where most people lived
Fullscreen	Click the fullscreen button to expand the map
Mini-map	Overview inset in the corner for context
Place Search	Search for places and zoom to their location

Toolbar Controls

The Map View toolbar uses compact icon-only buttons with tooltips. Hover over any button to see its function.

Icon	Function
Layers	Toggle marker types, paths, heat map, journey paths
Filter	Filter by collection, year range
Clock	Open time slider for "who was alive when?" animation
Map	Switch between OpenStreetMap and custom image maps
Columns	Open side-by-side map comparison (split view)
Download	Export as GeoJSON or SVG overlay
Pencil	Enter edit mode for custom map alignment (custom maps only)
Refresh	Reload data from vault

Marker Popups

Click any marker on the map to open a popup with the person's name, the event type and date, and the place name. For non-birth events on people whose born field is set, the popup also appends the person's age at the time of the event (e.g., Death: 1875-04-12 (age 67) or Death: 22 BBY (age 50) on fictional-era universes). Birth events suppress the age annotation since age 0 is redundant alongside the birth date.

For events with both a date_from and date_to (residence, occupation, military service, etc.), the popup renders the full duration as from – to rather than dropping the end date.

Age calculation defers to the same DateService path the journey-mode rich popup uses, so fictional eras (BBY/ABY descending and ascending, era crossings) work identically across both popup variants.

Place Marker Interactions

Place markers on custom maps support direct manipulation:

Dragging Markers:

Click and hold any place marker to drag it to a new position
Release to drop the marker; the new coordinates are saved automatically to the place note
Works with both geographic and pixel coordinate systems

Right-Click Context Menu:

Right-click any place marker to access quick actions:
- Open place note: Navigate to the place's markdown note
- Edit place: Open the Edit Place modal to modify properties
- Remove from map: Remove the marker (clears coordinates from the place note)

Filtering

By Collection:

Click Filters in the toolbar
Select a collection from the dropdown
Only people in that collection will be shown

By Year Range:

Click Filters in the toolbar
Enter minimum and/or maximum years
Click Apply

Layer Toggles

Control which elements appear on the map:

Click Layers in the toolbar
Toggle individual marker types:
- Births, Deaths, Marriages, Burials
- Residences, Occupations, Educations, Military
- Immigrations, Religious, Custom events
Toggle path layers:
- Migration paths (birth → death)
- Journey paths (all events chronologically)
Toggle heat map layer

Time Slider Animation

Visualize "who was alive when?" across your family tree:

Click Time in the toolbar
Use the slider to select a year
Click Play to animate through time
Adjust speed with the speed control
Toggle between modes:
- Snapshot: Only show people alive at the selected year
- Cumulative: Show everyone born up to the selected year

The person count displays how many people are visible at each point.

Map Comparison (Split View)

Compare different views side-by-side:

Click Split in the toolbar
Choose horizontal or vertical split
Each map instance has independent filters
Use this to compare:
- Different time periods
- Different collections/branches
- Real-world vs. custom maps

Export Options

GeoJSON Export:

Click Export → Export as GeoJSON
Creates a standard GeoJSON file with markers and paths
Compatible with GIS tools (QGIS, ArcGIS, etc.)

SVG Overlay Export:

Click Export → Export as SVG Overlay
Creates an SVG file with markers and paths
Can be embedded in notes or edited in vector graphics software

Maps Tab (Control Center)

The Maps tab in Control Center provides a central location for managing custom maps and accessing map visualizations.

Opening the Maps Tab

Open Control Center (click the Charted Roots icon in the ribbon or use Command Palette)
Click the Maps tab in the sidebar

Tab Contents

The Maps tab contains four cards:

Card	Description
Open Map View	Quick access button to launch the Map View, with coordinate coverage stats
Custom Maps	Thumbnail gallery of all custom map images with management actions
Visualizations	Migration diagrams and place network visualization tools
Map Statistics	Coordinate coverage percentage, custom map count, and universe list

Custom Maps

The Custom Maps gallery displays thumbnail previews of all map notes in your vault. Click any thumbnail to open it in Map View, or hover to reveal edit and menu options.

For complete documentation on creating, editing, and aligning custom maps, see Custom Maps.

Place Notes

Place notes are structured markdown files with YAML frontmatter that describe locations. They support hierarchical relationships (city → state → country) and can be linked from person notes.

Example Place Note:

---
cr_type: place
cr_id: place_abc123
name: "London"
aliases:
  - "City of London"
  - "Londinium"

# Classification
place_category: real  # real | historical | disputed | legendary | mythological | fictional
universe: null        # for fictional/mythological places

# Hierarchy
parent_place: "[England](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/England)"
place_type: city

# Coordinates (for real/historical places)
coordinates:
  lat: 51.5074
  long: -0.1278

# Historical names
historical_names:
  - name: "Londinium"
    period: "Roman"
---

# London

Notes about this place...

Place Categories

Category	Description	Examples
`real`	Verified real-world location	London, New York, Tokyo
`historical`	Real place that no longer exists	Babylon, Constantinople
`disputed`	Location debated by historians	Troy, King Solomon's Mines
`legendary`	May have historical basis but fictionalized	Camelot, El Dorado
`mythological`	Place from mythology/religion	Asgard, Mount Olympus
`fictional`	Invented for a story/world	Winterfell, Mordor

Creating Place Notes

Option 1: Control Center

Open Control Center → Places tab
Click Create place note
Fill in the place details:
- Name and aliases
- Category (real, historical, fictional, etc.)
- Place type (city, state, country, etc.)
- Parent place (searchable dropdown)
- Coordinates (for real places)
Click Create

Option 2: Quick-Create from Person Note

Right-click on a person note
Select Create place notes...
Review unlinked place references (from birth_place, death_place, etc.)
Click Create for each place you want to add
Optionally enable auto-linking to convert text to wikilinks

Option 3: Bulk Create Missing Places

Open Control Center → Places tab → Statistics
Click Create missing place notes
Review places referenced in person notes but not yet created
Create them individually or in batch

Linking Places to People

Reference places in person notes using wikilinks or plain text:

---
# Wikilink format (recommended - creates graph connections)
birth_place: "[London](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/London)"
death_place: "[New York City](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/New-York-City)"
burial_place: "[Westminster Abbey](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Westminster-Abbey)"

# Plain text format (backwards compatible)
birth_place: "London, England"
---

Life Events Array

Beyond core life events (birth, death, marriage, burial), you can track additional life events using the events array in person frontmatter. These events appear as color-coded markers in the Map View.

Supported Event Types

Event Type	Color	Use For
`residence`	Blue	Places lived (homes, apartments)
`occupation`	Orange	Work locations (offices, factories)
`education`	Teal	Schools, universities, training
`military`	Brown	Military service locations
`immigration`	Cyan	Border crossings, ports of entry
`baptism`	Light Purple	Baptism locations
`burial`	Gray	Burial/interment locations
`confirmation`	Light Purple	Confirmation ceremonies
`ordination`	Light Purple	Religious ordinations
`custom`	Pink	Any other life event

Example Events Array

---
birth_place: "[Boston](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Boston)"
death_place: "[Miami](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Miami)"

events:
  - event_type: residence
    place: "[New York](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/New-York)"
    date_from: "1920"
    date_to: "1935"
    description: "Family home on 5th Ave"
  - event_type: occupation
    place: "[Chicago](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Chicago)"
    date_from: "1935"
    date_to: "1942"
    description: "Steel mill foreman"
  - event_type: military
    place: "[Normandy](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Normandy)"
    date_from: "1944-06-06"
    date_to: "1944-08-25"
    description: "D-Day invasion"
  - event_type: education
    place: "[Harvard University](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Harvard-University)"
    date_from: "1915"
    date_to: "1919"
    description: "BA in History"
---

Event Properties

Property	Required	Description
`event_type`	Yes	One of the types listed above
`place`	Yes	Wikilink to a place note
`date_from`	No	Start date (YYYY, YYYY-MM, or YYYY-MM-DD)
`date_to`	No	End date (for duration events)
`description`	No	Brief description of the event

Journey Paths (Route Visualization)

Journey paths show a person's complete movement through life by connecting all their events in chronological order.

How it works:

Birth location is always first
Life events are sorted by date (year)
Death and burial locations come last
Consecutive duplicate locations are filtered out

Visual style:

Dashed violet lines (distinct from solid indigo migration paths)
Arrow decorations showing direction of movement
Person name labels along the path
Click the path to see all waypoints in a popup

To enable:

Open Map View
Click Layers in the toolbar
Check "Journey paths (all events)"

Use cases:

Track immigration routes with multiple stops
Visualize military service across locations
Show career progression through cities
Map pilgrimage or travel routes

Path label legibility

Person-name labels render along migration and journey path lines. On colorful or dark image-map backgrounds the default colored text can be hard to read. The Map path label outline setting (in plugin settings → Place Settings) adds a contrasting halo around each label:

Outline	When to use
None (default)	OSM tiles or other neutral basemaps where the colored text reads cleanly
White outline	Dark or richly-colored backgrounds where a white halo lifts the text off the map
Black outline	Light or pastel backgrounds where a dark halo provides contrast

The outline applies uniformly to migration paths and journey paths. Setting changes take effect on the next map render — close and reopen the map view (or toggle a path layer off/on) for the change to apply to in-flight maps.

Journey Mode

Journey mode isolates a single person's geographic path on the map and provides animated step-through playback with rich popups and an optional family overlay. While journey paths (above) show all people's routes simultaneously, journey mode focuses on one person at a time for detailed exploration.

Entering Journey Mode

There are two ways to enter journey mode:

From the map toolbar: Click the route button (🔀) in the toolbar's right section. A person picker opens — select the person whose journey you want to explore.
From a person note: Right-click a person note and choose Charted Roots > Show journey on map from the context menu. This opens (or focuses) the Map View with that person pre-selected.

When journey mode activates:

All markers and paths not belonging to the selected person are hidden
The person's event markers and journey path are shown
The map fits bounds to the person's waypoints
The time slider is disabled (they are mutually exclusive)
The journeys layer is enabled automatically
A person indicator appears in the toolbar center showing the selected name

To exit journey mode, click the × button on the person indicator, or click the route button again.

When the Playback Panel Doesn't Appear

Journey playback is only built when the selected person has at least two unique places with valid coordinates. Coordinates can be either geographic (lat / lng) on real-world maps or pixel (pixel_x / pixel_y or custom_coordinates_x / custom_coordinates_y) on custom image maps — both systems produce journey paths.

If the selected person has fewer than two resolvable waypoints, an inline placeholder appears at the bottom of the map naming the person and stating that they need at least two places with valid coordinates. The marker filter and toolbar chip still apply; only the playback panel is replaced. Add a birth_place / death_place / event-place wikilink that points at a place note with coordinates and the panel will render on the next refresh.

Playback Controls

A floating control bar appears at the bottom of the map with:

Control	Description
⏮ Previous	Jump to the previous waypoint
▶ Play / ⏸ Pause	Auto-advance through waypoints; loops back to the start when it reaches the end
⏭ Next	Jump to the next waypoint
Progress bar	Visual indicator of current position in the journey
Waypoint label	Shows the current event type and place name (e.g., "Birth in London")
Step counter	Displays position (e.g., "3 / 7")
Dwell-time selector	Cycles through 2s / 4s / 6s / 10s — controls how long the popup stays visible per step before the next step fires (default 4s). Total step interval is the configured dwell plus a constant ~1.1s camera fly.

On each step, the map pans and zooms to center on the current waypoint with a smooth fly animation, and a rich popup opens automatically.

Rich Waypoint Popups

During playback, each waypoint displays a detailed popup with:

Field	Description
Event type	The type of life event (e.g., Birth, Marriage, Residence)
Step counter	Position in the journey (e.g., "3 of 7")
Date	The event date, if available
Place	The place name
Age	Calculated from the person's birth year
Duration at location	Time between this event and the next (e.g., "12 years")
Details	Event description, if available

Family Journey Overlay

While in journey mode, you can toggle an overlay that shows the journey paths of immediate family members.

To enable: Click the 👥 family button (users icon) in the playback controls bar. Click it again to disable.

When enabled, dimmed journey paths appear for the person's:

Parents — shown in blue
Spouses — shown in pink
Children — shown in emerald

Family paths are rendered with reduced opacity and thinner lines to keep the primary person's journey prominent.

Clicking a family member's path opens a popup showing their name, relationship, and a summary of their journey. The popup includes a Switch to journey button that switches focus to that family member, entering journey mode for them instead.

Note: Only family members who have journey paths (at least two geolocated events) appear in the overlay. Family members with no location data or only a single event are not shown.

Place Statistics

The Places tab in Control Center shows aggregate statistics:

Overview Metrics:

Total places in vault
Percentage with coordinates
Orphan places (no parent defined)
Maximum hierarchy depth

Category Breakdown:

Count of places per category
Number of associated people per category

Most Common Locations:

Top birth places
Top death places
Migration patterns (birth → death flows)

Data Quality Card

The Data Quality card in the Places tab provides a unified view of place data issues with inline actions to fix them. It combines issue detection with resolution tools in a single, scannable interface.

Summary Bar

At the top of the card, a summary bar shows at-a-glance counts for each issue type:

Orphan: Places without a parent place defined
Missing: Place names referenced in person notes that don't have corresponding place notes
Duplicate: Place names that appear multiple times (potential duplicates)
Other: Additional issues (circular hierarchy, fictional places with coordinates, etc.)

Issue Sections

Each issue type appears in its own collapsible section. Sections show a count badge and can be expanded or collapsed by clicking the header.

Default behavior:

The first two sections are expanded by default (progressive disclosure)
Sections with zero issues are hidden

Issue types detected:

Issue Type	Description	Action
Orphan places	Places without `parent_place` defined	Edit button to set parent
Missing place notes	Places referenced in person notes but no place note exists	Create button to create note
Duplicate names	Multiple place notes with the same name	Review button, batch link to merge modal
Circular hierarchy	Place A → B → A (invalid parent chain)	Edit button to fix
Fictional with coords	Fictional/mythological places with real-world coordinates	Review button
Real missing coords	Real places without coordinates defined	Edit button to add coords
Places in wrong folder	Places not stored in their category-appropriate subfolder	Organize places button (see Category-Based Organization)

Inline Actions

Each issue item shows:

Place name: The name of the affected place
Detail text: Context about the issue (e.g., "no parent", "referenced by 5 people")
Action button: A contextual action like "Create", "Edit", "Set parent", or "Review"

Clicking the action button opens the appropriate modal or navigates to the place for editing.

Batch Actions

For issue types that support bulk operations, a batch action link appears below the issue list:

"Find all duplicates →": Opens the Merge Duplicate Places modal
"Create all missing →": Opens the Create Missing Places modal (when available)

Other Tools

Below the issue sections, an "Other tools" section provides access to actions that aren't issue-driven:

Geocode lookup: Look up coordinates for real places via OpenStreetMap
Standardize place names: Normalize place name formatting across notes
Merge duplicate places: Open the full duplicate detection and merge modal

Best Practices

Recommended workflow:

Review the summary bar to understand the scope of issues
Address high-impact issues first (missing places with many references)
Use batch actions for bulk operations
Use inline actions for individual fixes
Re-check after fixes to catch any new issues

Place Visualizations

Charted Roots provides D3-based visualizations for place data:

Network/Schematic View:

Places shown as nodes sized by associated person count
Color coding by category, place type, or hierarchy depth
Tree and radial layout options
Interactive tooltips with place details
Toggle migration flows as directed edges

Migration Flow Diagram:

Arc diagram showing movement patterns between places
Filter by minimum flow count
Color-coded nodes (green=birth origin, red=death destination)
Filter by time period (year range with century presets)
Filter by collection (family branch)
Aggregate by hierarchy level (e.g., group by country)

Merge Duplicate Places

When importing GEDCOM files or building place notes manually, you may end up with multiple notes representing the same location. The "Merge duplicate places" feature helps identify and consolidate these duplicates.

Opening the Merge Modal

Open Control Center → Places tab
In the Actions section, click Merge duplicate places
The modal scans your vault for potential duplicates

How Duplicates Are Detected

The duplicate detection algorithm uses multiple passes to identify potential duplicates:

Pass 1-3: Name Matching

Exact name match (case-insensitive)
Similar name match (fuzzy matching for typos)
Same parent + same name (places with identical names under the same parent)

Pass 4: Same Parent + Shared Base Name Places under the same parent that share a base name (first word) are grouped. This catches GEDCOM import fragments like "Abbeville" and "Abbeville County" under "South Carolina".

Administrative divisions (County, Parish, Township, etc.) are grouped separately from settlements
Prevents incorrect grouping of "Abbeville County" with "Abbeville" (the city) — they're different entities

Pass 5: State Abbreviation Variants Detects places that differ only in US state name format:

"Abbeville SC" ↔ "Abbeville South Carolina"
Checks both frontmatter title and filename for state components
Supports various filename formats: spaces, kebab-case (abbeville-south-carolina), and snake_case (abbeville_south_carolina)

Example duplicates detected:

"Birmingham, Alabama" and "Birmingham, Alabama" (different cr_id values)
"Hartford, Hartford County" (two notes with same parent name)
"Abbeville SC" and "Abbeville South Carolina" (state abbreviation variant)

Not grouped together:

"Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut" vs "Hartford, Oxfordshire, England" (different parents)
"Washington, Wilkes County" vs "Washington, D.C." (different parents)
"Abbeville County" vs "Abbeville" (administrative division vs settlement)

Sorting and Filtering

The controls bar at the top of the modal lets you manage large lists of duplicates:

Sort options:

Most duplicates (default): Groups with the most duplicate notes first
Fewest duplicates: Groups with only 2 notes first
Name (A-Z): Alphabetical by place name
Name (Z-A): Reverse alphabetical

Filter options:

All groups: Show all detected duplicate groups
Pending only: Hide groups that have already been merged
Has note content: Only show groups where at least one note has body text
Has coordinates: Only show groups where at least one note has coordinates

The status display shows how many groups are currently visible (e.g., "Showing 12 of 45 groups").

Understanding the Interface

Each duplicate group shows:

Element	Description
Suggested badge	The recommended canonical place based on completeness score
Full name	The `full_name` property from GEDCOM import (shown in italics)
Character count	Body content length (e.g., "1.2k chars", "500 chars")
Custom props	Badge shown if the note has non-standard frontmatter properties
Open button	Click to open note; right-click for open options
Select as canonical	Choose which note should be the primary place

Suggested Canonical Scoring

The "Suggested" badge indicates which place note has the most complete data. The scoring algorithm considers:

Criterion	Points
Has parent place defined	+100
Has coordinates	+50
Has place type specified	+25
Has universe assigned	+10
References from person notes	+5 per reference
Shorter file path (less nested)	-1 per path segment

Higher scores indicate more complete and better-connected place notes.

Merging Process

Review each group: Examine the places in each duplicate group
Open notes if needed: Click the open button to view note contents
- Left-click: Open in new tab
- Right-click: Choose "Open to the right" or "Open in new window"
Select canonical: Click "Select as canonical" on the note you want to keep
Rename if needed: Click the edit icon next to "Final filename" to change the filename
- Useful for removing "-2" suffixes from auto-generated duplicate names
- The file will be renamed after the merge completes
Repeat for each group
Click Merge: The merge operation will:
- Update all references in person notes to point to the canonical place
- Re-parent any child places to point to the canonical
- Rename the canonical file (if a new filename was specified)
- Move duplicate notes to trash

Best Practices

Before merging:

Review the full_name property to understand each place's context
Check character counts to identify notes with substantial content
Open notes with "custom props" to review what data might be lost
Use "Open to the right" to compare two places side-by-side

When selecting canonical:

Prefer notes with coordinates defined
Prefer notes with proper hierarchy (parent_place set)
Prefer notes with more content (higher character count)
Consider which note has more references from person notes

After merging:

Run the merge process again to catch any newly-detectable duplicates
Use "Build hierarchy" to establish parent-child relationships
Review the Places tab statistics for orphan places

Limitations

Only detects duplicates within the same parent context
Does not automatically merge note content (preserves canonical only)
Cannot undo merges (consider backing up before bulk merges)
Places must have cr_type: place in frontmatter to be detected

Place-Based Tree Filtering

Filter tree generation by geographic data:

Open Control Center → Tree Output tab
Configure your tree settings
In the Place filter section:
- Enable filtering by birth place, death place, marriage location, or burial place
- Enter a place name to match
Generate tree with only people matching the place criteria

Place Lookup

Create fully-populated place notes from external databases in seconds. The Place Lookup tool searches multiple providers simultaneously and returns coordinates, place type, and hierarchy.

Providers

Provider	What it returns	Configuration
Wikidata	Coordinates, place type, hierarchy, alternate names	Always available
OpenStreetMap (Nominatim)	Coordinates, address components, place type	Always available
GeoNames	Coordinates, place type, hierarchy, population	Requires free account — configure username in Settings > Places

How to use

From the command palette:

Press Ctrl/Cmd + P → search for Charted Roots: Look up place
Type a place name (e.g., "Edinburgh, Scotland")
Review results from all providers — each shows coordinates, type, and source
Select a result → opens the Create Place modal with fields pre-populated
Review and save

From the Create Place modal:

Open the Create Place modal (from Control Center, context menu, or command palette)
Click the Look up place button in the modal header
Search and select a result — coordinates, place type, and hierarchy auto-populate the form

What gets populated

When you select a lookup result, the following fields are filled automatically:

coordinates_lat / coordinates_long — geographic coordinates
place_type — city, state, country, etc. (inferred from provider data)
parent_place — parent location in the hierarchy (if available)
place_category — real, historical, etc.

Geocoding existing places

For place notes that already exist but lack coordinates:

Right-click a place note → Charted Roots > Geocode
Charted Roots queries Nominatim using the place name and parent place for accuracy
Review and accept the suggested coordinates

Note: Geocoding is rate-limited. For bulk lookups, use the Bulk Geocode tool in Control Center > Maps tab.

Web Clipper integration

You can also create place notes by clipping web pages from genealogy sites. The Web Clipper Integration page includes ready-to-use templates for importing places from FindAGrave, FamilySearch, Wikipedia, and other sources directly into your vault.

Custom Place Types

Beyond the built-in types (city, state, country, etc.), you can use custom types:

In the place type dropdown, select Other...
Enter your custom type (e.g., "galaxy", "star-system", "dimension")
Custom types are normalized to lowercase with hyphens
They appear in statistics alongside standard types

Using Obsidian Maps Alongside Charted Roots

Obsidian Maps is an official community plugin that adds a Map view to Obsidian Bases. While Charted Roots provides genealogy-focused map visualization, Obsidian Maps offers complementary features for general place browsing.

When to Use Each

Use Case	Recommended Tool
Visualizing migration paths (birth → death)	Charted Roots Map View
Journey paths through all life events	Charted Roots Map View
Heat map of family concentrations	Charted Roots Map View
Time slider ("who was alive when?")	Charted Roots Map View
Marker clustering for large datasets	Charted Roots Map View
Custom fictional/historical image maps	Charted Roots Map View
Simple "show places on a map" from a Base query	Obsidian Maps
Embedded map view within a markdown note	Obsidian Maps
Custom marker icons per place (Lucide icons)	Obsidian Maps
Custom marker colors per place	Obsidian Maps

Using Both Plugins Together

Charted Roots and Obsidian Maps work well together. Your place notes already include coordinates properties that Obsidian Maps can use:

Install Obsidian Maps from Community Plugins (requires Obsidian 1.10+)
Create a Places Base using the Charted Roots template (Data Quality tab → Data tools → Places, or command palette)
Add a Map view to your Base:
- In the Base, click the view dropdown → Map
- Set "Marker coordinates" to coordinates
- Optionally set "Marker icon" to icon and "Marker color" to color if you've added those properties

This gives you a simple map view of your places within Bases, while Charted Roots' Map View remains available for genealogy-specific analysis like migration paths and time-based filtering.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Charted Roots	Obsidian Maps
Map library	Leaflet 1.9.4	MapLibre GL 5.8
Tile format	Raster (XYZ)	Vector + Raster
Marker clustering	✓	—
Migration/journey paths	✓	—
Heat map layer	✓	—
Time slider animation	✓	—
Custom image maps	✓	—
Bases integration	—	✓
Embedded in notes	—	✓
Per-marker icons/colors	By event type	Per-note property
Formula-based properties	—	✓

Coordinated Workflows

Scenario: Researching a specific branch

Create a Base filtered to a collection (e.g., "Smith Family")
Use Obsidian Maps' Map view for quick place browsing
Switch to Charted Roots Map View for migration path analysis

Scenario: Place note research

Browse places in an Obsidian Maps view
Click a marker to open the place note
Use Charted Roots' "Open in Map View" context menu for full analysis

Settings

Configure place features in Settings → Charted Roots:

Places Folder:

Default destination for new place notes
Configurable via settings or folder context menu

Default Place Category:

Global default category for new places
Can be overridden by folder or collection rules

Place Category Rules:

Define automatic category assignment based on folder path or collection
Example: Places in "Places/Historical" default to historical category

Category-Based Organization

Added in v0.19.3

When enabled, places are automatically stored in category-specific subfolders based on their place_category:

Places/
  Real/         (place_category: real)
  Historical/   (place_category: historical)
  Disputed/     (place_category: disputed)
  Legendary/    (place_category: legendary)
  Mythological/ (place_category: mythological)
  Fictional/    (place_category: fictional)

Enabling Category Subfolders:

Open Settings → Charted Roots → Places
Scroll to the Category organization section
Enable Use category-based subfolders

How It Works:

Action	Behavior
Create new place	Automatically stored in category subfolder (e.g., `Places/Historical/`)
Edit existing place	If category changes, you're prompted to move the file
Import (GEDCOM/Gramps)	Places go to base folder; use Data Quality to organize afterward

Custom Folder Rules:

Override automatic folder names for specific categories:

In the Place organization section, click Add override
Select a category (e.g., Historical)
Enter a custom subfolder path (e.g., Ancient/Historical or Fantasy/Legendary)

Custom rules take precedence over automatic naming.

Organizing Existing Places:

If you enable category subfolders after creating place notes:

Open Control Center → Places tab
In Data Quality, look for "N places in wrong folder"
Click Organize places to open the bulk migration modal
Select places to move and click Move

The organize modal shows:

Place name and category
Current folder location
Target folder based on category

Default Behavior:

New vaults: Category subfolders are enabled by default
Existing vaults: Disabled by default to avoid disrupting existing organization
Places with the default category (usually real) stay in the base folder unless a rule is defined

Geographic Features - banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots GitHub Wiki

Geographic Features

Table of Contents

Interactive Map View

Opening Map View

Map Features

Toolbar Controls

Marker Popups

Place Marker Interactions

Filtering

Layer Toggles

Time Slider Animation

Map Comparison (Split View)

Export Options

Maps Tab (Control Center)

Opening the Maps Tab

Tab Contents

Custom Maps

Place Notes

Place Categories

Creating Place Notes

Linking Places to People

Life Events Array

Supported Event Types

Example Events Array

Event Properties

Journey Paths (Route Visualization)

Path label legibility

Journey Mode

Entering Journey Mode

When the Playback Panel Doesn't Appear

Playback Controls

Rich Waypoint Popups

Family Journey Overlay

Place Statistics

Data Quality Card

Summary Bar

Issue Sections

Inline Actions

Batch Actions

Other Tools

Best Practices

Place Visualizations

Merge Duplicate Places

Opening the Merge Modal

How Duplicates Are Detected

Sorting and Filtering

Understanding the Interface

Suggested Canonical Scoring

Merging Process

Best Practices

Limitations

Place-Based Tree Filtering

Place Lookup

Providers

How to use

What gets populated

Geocoding existing places

Web Clipper integration

Custom Place Types

Using Obsidian Maps Alongside Charted Roots

When to Use Each

Using Both Plugins Together

Feature Comparison

Coordinated Workflows

Settings

Category-Based Organization