Reference and privacy

Supported files and links

Input	Supported forms	What it contributes
Photos	JPG, JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, HEIF, AVIF	GPS point, thumbnail when available, time/orientation metadata
Tracks	GPX, GeoJSON, KML, TCX	Routes, waypoints, markers, arrows, and available inline statistics
Areas	GeoJSON and KML polygons	Filled regions with outlined boundaries and preserved holes
Note attachments	Normal body links, embeds, frontmatter file links	Linked tracks and photos, de-duplicated per resolved file

A direct supported photo or track file may also be a Base result. Only a real track embed creates an inline map; normal links and frontmatter links draw on a Base or Around map without creating another map in the note.

Where the settings live

Settings → Community plugins → Advanced Maps opens on eleven entries, one per topic. Open one to reach its rows; the entry states what it is set to, so the pane answers the common questions without being opened.

Entry	Holds
Coordinate system	The default datum for inline maps and for views that set none
Offline basemap	Whether local tile packs are used at all, the packs on disk, the zoom levels each holds, and which one is the default
Open in map	Base file, view name, target, coordinate and place properties, zoom, Around view name, menu label
Map buttons and menu	Whether a map carries the follow and measure buttons, which way follow starts, and whether its menu can set a note’s coordinates
Open in external map	The built-in map apps and your own
Place search	Search source and, for Amap, where its key is kept
Location	Device location and the automatic coordinate fill
Places in and out	Whether places are exchanged with files at all — the import on a track file’s menu and the export on a map’s
Pins	How the notes’ own markers behave
Tracks	Colour, width, opacity, fit zoom, inline height, statistics, profile, markers — and Track properties, which names what the statistics command writes
Photos	Photo pins, thumbnails, photo datum, and the photo index

Anything named in this guide can also be found by typing it into the settings search, which reaches rows inside these pages the same way it reaches any other.

Turning a feature off

Everything this plugin puts somewhere you did not open for it can be switched off, and switching it off takes the whole feature: the menu item, its command, and the work behind it. A command is not on this list — it runs because you invoked it, so there is nothing to decline — and a command belonging to a switched-off feature goes with that feature.

Nothing is cleared by a switch. What the feature was configured with stays on its page, stating what it holds and taking no edits, so you can see what switching it back on hands you.

Switch	Page	With it off
Use offline basemaps	Offline basemap	No map is drawn on a pack, and a map’s background button lists only what Maps itself has. Your packs are kept. It starts off unless you already had a pack.
Open a note in map	Open in map	No note carries the ⋮ item, and the command leaves the palette.
Insert a map of nearby notes	Open in map	The editor’s right-click menu carries no item, and the command leaves the palette. Maps already inserted go on drawing.
Set a note’s coordinates from the map	Map buttons and menu	The map’s right-click menu drops that item. Its other items carry the same coordinate they always did.
Exchange places with files	Places in and out	A track file’s ⋮ menu offers no import, and a map’s menu no export. Notes and files already written are untouched.
Inline route maps	Tracks	An embedded ![[route.gpx]] is the embed Obsidian makes of it, because this plugin claims no track file at all.
Offer external maps	Open in external map	Right-clicking a map offers no external app. The order and the ones you switched off are kept.

Which setting owns what

Question	Defined by
Which notes or direct files participate?	Base filters
What does a note marker look like?	Base formulas and the map view’s Marker icon/Marker color options
Where is a note’s coordinate?	The map view’s Marker coordinates property
Which Base powers navigation and Around?	Advanced Maps Base file and View name settings
How a specific map draws tracks or converts its basemap	trackWeight, trackOpacity, fitMaxZoom, and coordSystem view keys when present; plugin settings otherwise
Which background a map opens on	The offlineTiles view key; the packs themselves are a plugin setting

Operational boundaries

• Advanced Maps requires the first-party Maps view. If it is unavailable, the plugin reports or skips the enhancement and leaves the host usable.
• A photo without readable GPS remains a Base result but has no map marker. A geotagged photo without a usable thumbnail still has a dot.
• A directory link to an external album is desktop filesystem setup. Create an equivalent link on every desktop, keep cloud files locally readable, avoid loops, and verify how backup and sync providers handle the link. Mobile cannot reuse a desktop link.
• An Around view still obeys its Base’s filters. It stores the view name in the embed, so rename the view and existing embeds must be updated.
• Opening a configured Base in a normal tab lets view-option changes persist in the Base file. A pop-up window preserves the layout but has nowhere to write those changes back.

What leaves your vault

Note

Notes, tracks, and photo contents do not leave on their own. The plugin has no telemetry, update ping, or server.

When	What leaves	Destination
A map is visible	Tile requests: your IP and viewed area	The selected basemap provider
A map draws a tile pack	Nothing; the tiles are read from disk	—
You search for a place	Search text, language, and configured key	The selected geocoder
You reverse-geocode	The one coordinate you requested	The selected geocoder
You open an external map	The clicked coordinate	The map app you chose
You use device location	Nothing from the plugin; the OS supplies the fix	—

A search key can live in Obsidian secret storage, which keeps it out of synced plugin settings, or in plugin settings for cross-device convenience. Either way the provider receives it with the request.

Attribution

Screenshots use third-party basemaps and search services only to demonstrate the plugin; provider attribution remains visible. No screenshot shows a face or an identifiable person: the hero image is the author’s own vault with days that hold photographs of people filtered out of the Base. The remaining images use synthetic demo notes or the author’s own photographs—animals only. The thumbnail-thinning animation copies those photographs onto real landmark coordinates so it can demonstrate a large album without publishing where anybody has been.

The offline-basemap figure is drawn from a tile pack built for it out of Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), used under CC BY 4.0 — the one basemap here whose licence allows an offline copy to be made in the first place.

Advanced Maps bundles no map data. Basemap copyright, licensing, and survey requirements belong to the selected provider and user. If you hold rights to reproduced material and want it removed, please open an issue.