**Created**:: [[2022-01-09 Sunday]] **Link**:: https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc **Duration**:: 7:15 ![Visualize your location index with Obsidian Map View](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc) # Summary In this video, the speaker explores the Map View plugin in Obsidian, focusing on how it enhances personal knowledge management through geographic indexing. They emphasize the importance of organization methods, referencing Richard Saul Wurman's "LATCH" principle, which includes location, alphabet, time, category, and hierarchy. The Map View plugin is presented as a transformative tool that allows users to visualize their notes and locations interactively. # Key Takeaways - The "LATCH" principle by Richard Saul Wurman provides a framework for organizing information: location, alphabet, time, category, and hierarchy. - The Map View plugin in Obsidian allows users to create a geographic index of notes and visualize this on an interactive map. - Users can enhance their notes with custom location tags and icons for improved organization and contextual discovery. # Content Hi, I'm taking a brief detour from Excalidraw to explore other aspects of visual personal knowledge management. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=0) Today, I'd like to show you how I have started using the Map View plugin in my Obsidian vault. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=8) But before diving into Map View, I'd like to give you a bit of context first. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=15) Whenever you're faced with organizing information, it may seem as if there are a million ways to go about it, and in reality, I guess there are an infinite number of ways to do anything. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=22) However, when it comes down to organizing information, there are really only five ways to do it. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=27) The concept of the five hat racks was developed by Richard Saul Wurman and published in his 1989 book "Information Anxiety." [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=38) Those of you who are not familiar with Richard, he is the creator of the famous TED Talks. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=45) The five hat racks are also known as the LATCH principle, where LATCH is an acronym that stands for location, alphabet, time, category, and hierarchy. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=56) I have moved to Obsidian about nine months ago. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=68) Overall, I have roughly 4,400 markdown files in my vault and an additional 1,600 PDF documents, images, and other files. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=80) I have about 300 tags and 640 folders. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=85) These are not all new notes, of course; many of them I've moved over from The Brain and from Roam. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=99) But whichever way I look at it, my Obsidian vault has started to become a bit of a mess. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=112) A cleanup is long overdue. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=116) So the last couple of days, I've spent some additional time gardening in my world, and what I would like to do in the upcoming videos is to share some of my core Obsidian workflows that I'm now documenting as part of this cleanup process. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=128) I've used The Brain for almost two decades. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=134) My point of reference for organizing my Obsidian vault is the system that I have developed in The Brain. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=141) This was based on the concept of providing multiple entry points for the same information by creating parallel organizational structures based on time, location, category, and hierarchy. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=146) My daily journal forms the backbone of my knowledge graph; topics are linked to the days on which I was engaged in dealing with them. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=159) But in addition to linking to daily notes, thoughts are also colored based on their categories and organized into hierarchies of contexts such as digital note-taking, sketchnoting, drawing, painting, hobbies, and so on. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=164) Beyond the categories, I also created different indexes such as location, calendar, people, workflow, and status. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=189) When you put all of this together, it creates a very rich context for information that helps find information as well as catalyzes lateral discovery. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=196) The Map View plugin is a mind-blowing upgrade to the location index I once had in The Brain. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=211) Map View is an interactive map for your Obsidian vault. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=219) It searches your nodes for encoded geolocations and places them as markers on a map. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=222) You can set different icons for different node types; you can filter the display nodes, and much more. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=230) Map View is like a personal GIS system, providing a complementary view for your notes. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=241) Just as the Obsidian graph view lets you visualize associative relations between your notes, the Map View lets you visualize geographic ones. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=249) In the simplest case, you can encode a document by adding the location from the matter tag. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=256) As an example, let's encode some of the locations I visited with my family on our USA tour in 2018. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=260) Let's convert Capitol Reef into a document and let's search for the national park on Google. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=267) Once I've found the location, all I need to do is copy the URL and navigate back to Obsidian, where I will add the location from the matter tag and right click to paste as geolocation. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=274) If you want to add a custom icon, then you need to set a tag for the document. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=290) In this case, I don't have a tag for national parks, so I will first set up this tag in settings. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=304) By scrolling down to marker icon rules, as you can see above, you can use Font Awesome icons. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=313) So let's look at the available icons on the Font Awesome website. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=317) It sometimes takes a bit of time to come up with the right keyword to find the desired icon. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=322) You need to prefix the icon name you found on Font Awesome with "fa-" in our case it is "fa-3". [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=335) You need to specify the tag and, optionally, you can specify a color and a shape. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=340) You will find available shapes following this link. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=353) Now we can head back to our document and set the tag "location/national parks," and voila, the marker has appeared on the map. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=367) If you don't want to create new pages for all the items in the list, then you can add the empty locations front matter key to the document, and you can add geolocation links to your locations. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=372) Let's do this for Zion National Park, and that's it. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=381) Finally, if you're an advanced user, you'll be happy to know that you can add custom SVG images as icons in case you cannot find the right icon on the Font Awesome website. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=394) You can either use Excalidraw to create your icon and save it as an SVG, or you can search for an appropriate icon, for example, on the Noun project's website. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=400) So that sums up my introduction of Map View. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=408) I highly recommend adding a location index to your vault and giving Map View a try. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=425) Thank you. [* ](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=433) # YouTube Details ## YouTube Description If you find my videos helpful, please say thanks by buying me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/zsolt If you want to connect, you can reach me (@zsviczian) in the Obsidian Members Group (OMG) on Discord or on Twitter. Links --------- My blog: https://zsolt.blog Map View plugin: https://github.com/esm7/obsidian-map-view Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com/ Leaflet Extra Markers: https://github.com/coryasilva/Leaflet.ExtraMarkers#properties The Noun Project: https://thenounproject.com/ SVGOMG: https://jakearchibald.github.io/svgomg/ ## YouTube Transcript [hi](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=0) [i'm taking a brief detour from excolidra](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=0) [to explore other aspects of visual](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=3) [personal knowledge management](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=5) [today i'd like to show you how i have](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=8) [started using the mapview plugin in my](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=10) [obsidian vault](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=14) [but before diving into map view i'd like](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=15) [to give you a bit of context first](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=18) [whenever you're faced with organizing](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=22) [information it may seem as if there are](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=24) [a million ways to go about it and in](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=27) [reality i guess there are](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=30) [an infinite number of ways to doing](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=33) [anything however when it comes down to](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=35) [organizing information there are really](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=38) [only five ways to do it the concept of](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=41) [the five hat racks](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=45) [was developed by richard sol worman and](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=47) [published in his 1989 book information](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=51) [anxiety](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=54) [those of you who are not familiar with](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=56) [richard he is the creator of the famous](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=58) [ted talks](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=62) [the five hat tracks is also known as the](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=64) [latch principle](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=66) [where latch is an acronym that stands](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=68) [for location](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=71) [alphabet time category and hierarchy i](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=73) [have moved to obsidian about nine months](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=78) [ago](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=80) [overall i have roughly 4 400 more](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=82) [markdown files in my vault and an](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=85) [additional 1600 pdf documents and images](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=87) [and other files](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=91) [i have about 300 tags and 640 folders](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=93) [these are not all new notes of course](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=99) [many of them i've moved over from the](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=101) [brain and from rome](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=104) [but whichever way i look at it my](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=106) [obsidian walt has started to become a](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=109) [bit of a mess](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=112) [a cleanup is long overdue](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=113) [so the last couple of days i've spent](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=116) [some additional time gardening in my](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=119) [world and what i would like to do in the](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=122) [upcoming videos is to share some of my](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=125) [core obsidian workflows that i'm now](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=128) [documenting as part of this cleanup](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=130) [process](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=133) [i've used the brain for almost two](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=134) [decades my point of reference for](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=136) [organizing my obsidian volt is the](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=139) [system that i have developed in the](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=141) [brain](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=143) [this was based on the concept of](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=144) [providing multiple entry points for the](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=146) [same information by creating parallel](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=149) [organizational structures based on time](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=152) [location category and hierarchy](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=155) [my daily journal forms the backbone of](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=159) [my knowledge graph topics are linked to](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=161) [the days on which i was engaged in](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=164) [dealing with them](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=166) [but additional to linking to daily notes](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=169) [thoughts are also colored based on their](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=172) [categories and organized into](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=175) [hierarchies of contexts such as digital](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=177) [note taking sketchnoting drawing and](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=181) [painting hobbies and so on](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=183) [beyond the categories i also created](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=187) [different indexes such as location](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=189) [calendar people workflow status](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=193) [and when you put all of this together](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=196) [this creates a very rich context for](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=198) [information that helps find information](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=202) [as well as](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=205) [catalyzes lateral discovery](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=207) [the map view plugin is a mind-blowing](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=211) [upgrade to the location index i once had](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=214) [in the brain](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=218) [map view is an interactive map for your](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=219) [obsidian vault](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=222) [it searches your nodes for encoded](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=223) [geolocations and places them as markers](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=226) [on a map](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=229) [you can set different icons for](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=230) [different node types you can filter the](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=232) [display nodes and much more](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=235) [map view is like a personal gis system](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=238) [providing a complementary view for your](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=241) [notes](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=244) [just as the obsidian graph view lets you](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=246) [visualize associative relations between](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=249) [your notes](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=252) [the map view lets you visualize](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=253) [geographic ones](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=256) [in the simplest case you can encode a](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=258) [document by adding the location from](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=260) [matter tag](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=263) [as an example let's encode some of the](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=265) [locations i visited with my family on](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=267) [our usa tour in 2018.](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=270) [let's convert capital reef into a](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=274) [document and let's search for the](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=276) [national park on google](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=278) [once i've found the location all i need](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=281) [to do is to copy the url and to navigate](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=284) [back to obsidian where i will add the](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=287) [location from matter tag and right click](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=290) [to paste as geolocation](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=294) [if you want to add a custom icon then](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=297) [you need to set a tag for the document](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=300) [in this case i don't have a tag for](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=304) [national parks so i will first set up](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=307) [this tag in settings](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=311) [by scrolling down to marker icon rules](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=313) [as you can see above you can use font](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=317) [awesome icons so let's look at the](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=319) [available icons on the font awesome](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=322) [website](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=325) [it sometimes takes a bit of time to come](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=326) [up with the right keyword to find the](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=329) [desired icon](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=332) [you need to prefix the icon name you](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=335) [found on font awesome](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=338) [with fa dash](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=340) [in our case it is fa-3](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=343) [you need to specify the tag and](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=348) [optionally you can specify a color and a](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=350) [shape you will find available shapes](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=353) [following this link](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=356) [now we can head back to our document and](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=358) [set the tag location slash national](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=361) [parks](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=366) [and voila the marker has appeared on the](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=367) [map if you don't want to create new](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=370) [pages for all the items in the list then](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=372) [you can add the empty locations front](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=375) [matter key to the document](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=379) [and you can add geolocation links to](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=381) [your locations](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=384) [let's do this for zion national park](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=386) [and that's it](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=392) [finally](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=394) [if you're an advanced user you'll be](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=395) [happy to know that you can add custom](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=397) [svg images as icons in case you cannot](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=400) [find the right icon on the font awesome](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=404) [website](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=407) [you can either use xcalidraw to create](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=408) [your icon and save it as an svg or you](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=411) [can search for an appropriate icon for](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=415) [example on the noun project's website](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=418) [so that sums up my introduction of map](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=422) [view i highly recommend adding a](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=425) [location index to your vault](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=427) [and giving map view a try](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=430) [thank you](https://youtu.be/g9QOHaAqhXc?t=433)