Map marker colours and spot states

Every pin on the map is a spot, and its colour tells you what kind of spot you're looking at.

The colours

• Green — an approved public spot. Open to everyone: visit it, line up the ghost overlay, add your repeat photo.
• Bright green — a spot that's in one of your lists, so you can find the spots you're following at a glance.
• Red — a private spot: one of your own, or one shared with you through a list. Only you (and fellow list members) can see it — it's invisible to everyone else.
• Gray — an archived spot. Still on the map with its full history, but closed for new photos.
• Light gray — your own new spot while it waits for review. Only you can see it; it turns green once approved.

Zoomed out, nearby pins merge into green circles with a number — zoom in (or tap one) and they split back into individual pins. Declined spots never appear on the map.

Public, private and archived

Public spots are the heart of Ephemeros: once approved they're visible to everyone, anyone can re-photograph them, and their timelines join the open research dataset.

Private spots belong to their creator and never appear publicly — no map, no search, no dataset. You can share one with specific people by adding it to a list; see Public and private spots and lists for how that works. A private spot stays red for everyone who can see it.

Archived spots have been closed by the Ephemeros team — usually because the standpoint is gone, unsafe, or the spot was for a temporary project. Archiving preserves the record rather than deleting it:

• The spot, its photo timeline and its timelapse all stay visible wherever they appeared before.
• Nobody can add new photos — not even the spot's creator. The capture button will tell you the spot is archived.
• Archiving is separate from visibility: a private spot can be archived too (it stays red on the map, but no longer accepts photos).

If you think a spot was archived in error, or a public spot's standpoint has become unreachable and should be archived, let us know via Contact support on the profile screen.