Public and private spots and lists

Everything in Ephemeros is built on spots (fixed viewpoints) and lists (collections of spots) — and both come in two flavours.

Public and private spots

• Public spots are the default. Once approved they appear on the map for everyone, anyone can re-photograph them, and they become part of the open research dataset.
• Private spots are yours alone: a garden, a building project, the view from your window, a private research or monitoring project. They show as a red pin on your map, never appear on anyone else's map or in search (unless you share them with people on a list), and their location is never shared.

You choose a spot's visibility when you create it, and it can't be changed in the app afterwards — contact support if you need one switched. For you, a private spot works like any other: ghost overlay, photo timeline, timelapse.

Public and private lists

• Public lists can be found by anyone — by name or by their EPL- join code — and anyone can join with one tap.
• Private lists are invisible to non-members and can't be joined, even with the code. The only way in is an invitation from the list owner, sent to an exact username or email address. Invitations appear on the Lists tab, where they can be accepted or declined.

Anyone who can see a list can see its member count, but the member roster is visible only to the list's owner. Members can leave a list at any time, and the owner can remove members.

Giving others access to a private spot

On its own, a private spot is visible to nobody but you. To share it with specific people, put it in a list:

1. Create a list and keep it private.
2. Add your private spot to the list — only you, as the spot's owner, can do this.
3. Invite people from the list screen by their exact username or email.
4. Once they accept the invite, the spot appears for them — red pin on their map, on the list, with its full photo timeline — and they can re-photograph it too.

Access follows membership: anyone who leaves the list, or is removed from it, immediately stops seeing the spot.

One caution: the same works with a public list — but since anyone can join a public list, adding your private spot to one effectively shares it with everybody who joins. Use a private list when you want to control exactly who has access.