📱 Main Interface: The 3 Tabs

---

🗺️ Tab 1: Interactive Map

The map tab is your starting point for discovering and saving places.

How to use the map:

• Click anywhere on the map to mark it. A blue marker and a popup with the address will appear.
• Floating weather widget: Shows current temperature and local time. Tap to see the 5-day forecast.
• Automatic POIs: Every time you move more than 2km, the app automatically searches for nearby Wikipedia points of interest and displays them on the map.

The 4 action buttons (FABs):

1. 🔍 Search places (top left): Opens a menu with 23 categories (restaurants, hotels, cafes, monuments, cultural events, etc.). Searches in the location marked on the map.
2. ➕ Add place (top right, green): Creates a new place at the marked location. Opens a form where you can add title, description, photos, category, phone and website.
3. 🌐 Search location (bottom center, yellow): Search for cities or addresses worldwide (eg: «Paris, France», «Times Square New York»). The map automatically flies to that place.
4. 🎯 Center map (bottom right): Centers the map on your current GPS location.

📍 Tab 2: My Places

Here you find all the places you have saved, organized and easy to search.

List View vs Map View:

• List View: Shows cards with photo, title, address, distance from your current location, and category.
• Map View: Shows all your places as colored markers according to their category. If you have more than 50 places, they group into clusters.

Search and Filters:

• Search bar: Real-time search by title, description or address.
• 7 grouping types:
  1. Ungrouped (all mixed)
  2. Near me (less than 50 km)
  3. Wishlist (places marked to visit)
  4. By country (Spain 🇪🇸, France 🇫🇷, etc.)
  5. By city (Madrid, Paris, etc.)
  6. By category (🍽️ Restaurants, 🏨 Hotels, etc.)
  7. By year (2025, 2024, 2023…)

Collections System:

Collections allow you to organize places by theme (eg: «Japan Trip 2025», «Favorite Restaurants», «Romantic Places»).

• Create collection: ➕ button in the Collections tab. Choose name, icon (50+ available), color (20 colors), optional cover photo and description.
• Add places to collection: From the place detail, select the collections it belongs to. A place can be in multiple collections.
• View collection: Tap a collection to see all its places. You can generate a PDF album of just that collection.

Route Planner:

Plan the best route to visit multiple places in a day.

1. Tap the «Plan route» button at the top.
2. Checkboxes appear on each place. Select between 2 and 20 places.
3. Choose the starting point.
4. The app calculates the optimal order using an intelligent algorithm (Nearest Neighbor).
5. Result: Ordered list with distances between stops, total estimated time (10 min/place + 2 min/km), and map with the route drawn.

Advanced Statistics:

«📊 Statistics» button shows a complete dashboard with:

• Total places, photos, countries visited, cities
• Countries with emoji flags (Spain 🇪🇸 85 places, France 🇫🇷 32 places…)
• Favorite categories (bar chart)
• Timeline by year and month
• Rankings: most visited country, favorite category, most active year
• First saved place with «X time ago»

⚙️ Tab 3: Settings

Customize the application according to your preferences.

Available options:

• 🌍 Language: Choose from 8 languages (Español, English, Français, Deutsch, Português, Italiano, 中文, 日本語). Instantly changes the entire interface.
• 🌙 Dark mode: Enable or disable dark mode. Also changes the map tiles.
• 📤 Export places: Download all your data in a JSON file with all photos included in base64. Name: whataplace_backup_YYYYMMDD_HHMM.json
• 📥 Import places: Import a previously exported JSON file. Automatically detects duplicates (places less than 11 meters apart) and asks what to do.
• 💾 Automatic backups: Configure daily or weekly backups. Option to backup only with WiFi and battery >20%.
• 📖 Tutorial: View the initial 8-slide tutorial that explains the main features again.

🔍 Search and Discovery

---

Search by Categories (23 types)

From the 🔍 button on the map, access a grid with 23 categories:

Data sources:

• Google Places: Restaurants, hotels, cafes, pharmacies, gas stations, banks, ATMs, hospitals, parking, cinemas, parks (with photos, ratings and reviews).
• OpenStreetMap Overpass: Bus stations, taxi stands, airports, post offices, campgrounds (open and free data).
• Wikipedia: Monuments, museums, churches, castles, palaces, towers, historic bridges (with complete articles and photos).
• Ticketmaster: Cultural events (concerts, theater, sports, family, arts) with dates, prices and links to buy tickets.

Each result shows: photo, name, address, distance, rating (if available), and save button.

Wikipedia POI Discovery

Special modal that shows cultural points of interest from Wikipedia in a configurable radius (500m, 1km, 2km, 5km, 10km).

Special features:

• Multi-language search: Searches first in your language, then in the local language of the place (eg: French if in Paris), and finally in English as fallback.
• Intelligent filtering: Includes only relevant tourist places (church, cathedral, museum, monument, castle, palace, square, tower, bridge, theater…) and excludes streets, roads, people, temporary events.
• 🔊 TTS Audio Guide: Each article has a «Read aloud» button that uses native text-to-speech. Works in 8 languages with Play/Pause/Resume controls. Perfect to use as a tourist audio guide while walking.
• Automatic translation: Button to translate the article to your language using free translation API.
• Save as place: Save the POI with all its auto-filled information (title, description, photo, coordinates).

📸 Photo Management

---

Add Photos

• From camera: Capture a new photo directly.
• From gallery: Select an existing photo from your device.
• Unlimited: Add as many photos as you want, only limited by your device’s storage space.

Reorder Photos (Drag & Drop)

The first photo is the main photo (cover) that appears in lists and on the cover of the PDF album.

• How to reorder: Press and hold a photo and drag it to the desired position. You’ll see a placeholder with an arrow indicating where it will be inserted.
• Visual hint: If you have more than one photo, the message «Drag to reorder» appears (multi-language).
• «Drag handle» icons appear to facilitate dragging.

Full-Screen Photo Viewer

Tap any photo to open it in full screen with:

• Pinch zoom: Enlarge and reduce the photo with touch gestures.
• Navigation: Swipe or use arrows to see next/previous photo.
• Counter: Shows «3/8» to know which photo you’re on.
• Instructions: «Swipe to change photo • Pinch to zoom»

📄 Professional PDF Albums

---

Generate beautiful PDF albums of your travels with photos, maps and descriptions. Perfect for sharing with friends or printing as a keepsake.

3 Available Templates

1. Photographic: Focus on large photos, minimal text. Ideal for visual albums.
2. Traveler: Perfect balance between photos and text. Travel diary style design.
3. Detailed: All information: all photos, all fields (coordinates, date, phone, website, category).

Configurable Options

• Album title and subtitle: Customize the name (eg: «Our Trip to Japan – Spring 2025»).
• Include cover: Initial page with title, subtitle, cover photo and generation date.
• Include general map: Map with all marked places.
• Include statistics: Numerical summary (X places, Y photos, Z countries…).
• Number of photos: All photos or only the first per place. Slider to limit maximum (1-10 photos/place).
• Fields to show: Choose what information to include (coordinates, date, time, phone, website, category).

PDF Content

• Cover: Title, subtitle, main photo, generation date.
• General map: View of all places with colored markers by category.
• Statistics: Numerical summary of the trip.
• Place pages: 1 page per place with:
  • Photos with Polaroid-style frame and subtle shadows
  • Intelligent layout: 1 large photo, 2 vertical photos side by side, 3+ photos in 2×2 grid
  • Title and category emoji
  • Description with HTML formatting (bold, italic, lists, headers)
  • Mini map with exact location
  • Contact information and category
• Index: List of all places with page numbers.

Format: A4 PDF, high quality, ready to print or share digitally.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

---

Do I need to create an account?

No. Whataplace does not require an account or registration. All your data is saved locally on your device. We don’t share your information with anyone.

---

Does it work without internet?

Partially. You need internet to:

• Load map tiles
• Search for new places (Google Places, Wikipedia, etc.)
• Get weather data

Without internet you can:

• View all your saved places
• View all photos
• Edit existing places
• Generate PDF albums
• Export/import data

---

How many places can I save?

Unlimited. You can save as many places as you want, only limited by your device’s storage space. Users have reported having more than 500 places without problems.

---

Can I transfer my data to another device?

Yes, use the Export places feature in Settings. Download the JSON file with all your photos included, then use Import places on the new device. The file includes absolutely everything: places, photos, collections, descriptions.

---

What happens if I delete the app by mistake?

If you haven’t made a backup, you’ll lose all your data. That’s why we recommend:

1. Configure automatic backups weekly in Settings.
2. Make manual exports periodically and save them in the cloud (Drive, Dropbox, etc.).

---

Do photos take up a lot of space?

Whataplace optimizes photos at 90% JPEG quality. Each photo typically takes 200-500 KB. Example:

• 100 places with 3 photos each = ~90-150 MB
• 500 places with 5 photos each = ~500 MB – 1.2 GB

---

Can I edit a place after saving it?

Yes, totally. Tap the place in «My Places», then the edit button (✏️). You can change everything: title, description, category, photos, phone, website, collections. You can also delete it (with confirmation).

---

How do coordinates work?

Whataplace uses the WGS84 system (the same as GPS). Each place is saved with precise latitude and longitude. When you tap «Navigate», the app opens Google Maps or Apple Maps (depending on your device) with the exact coordinates.

---

What are categories?

There are 16 predefined categories with emojis and colors: 🍽️ Restaurants, 🏨 Hotels, ☕ Cafes, 🏛️ Monuments, 🎭 Culture, 🏖️ Beaches, 🌳 Nature, 🛍️ Shopping, 🎉 Entertainment, 🏃 Sports, 🏫 Education, 🏥 Health, 🏢 Services, 🚗 Transport, 🏠 Residential, ➕ Others.

Categories help organize and filter your places. They also color the markers on the map.

---

Can I share a place with friends?

Yes, from the place detail, «🔗 Share» button. The native share menu opens with coordinates, title, address and Google Maps link. You can send it via WhatsApp, email, etc.

---

What languages does the app support?

8 languages with complete translations (4,800+ texts):

• 🇪🇸 Español (Spanish)
• 🇬🇧 English
• 🇫🇷 Français (French)
• 🇩🇪 Deutsch (German)
• 🇵🇹 Português (Portuguese)
• 🇮🇹 Italiano (Italian)
• 🇨🇳 中文 (Chinese)
• 🇯🇵 日本語 (Japanese)

---

Does the app have ads or subscriptions?

No. Whataplace is 100% free, no ads, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions. All features are available to all users.