Why are locations and tags treated so differently (SmartAdd pain)?
felciano says:
Hi --
Can someone please explain the notion of locations vs tags? It seems to me that locations are basically tags that have an extra bit of geographic data associated with them. So it is strange to me that they are treated so differently in the UI (e.g. locations appear in tag clouds but not in task lists, they use different syntaxes in Smart Add, etc).
I've generally not really understood why locations are treated so differently than tags. It seems like locations are just tags with a little bit of geo-metadata, but other than that it seems like the RTM user experience would be simpler if they were treated the same (e.g. have both tags and locations appear after tasks in task lists).
For example, is it a common use case to have @home as a location and #home as a tag, and want to treat these separately? Couldn't there just be a single type of tag, which optionally has a geo location on it?
I'm trying to understand whether there is a particular set of use cases or design goals that really motivate keeping these distinct. Maybe I'm missing something, but my RTM user experience would be much simpler if these two features were merged. As it is, I have a hard time remembering whether "home", "work", "store", etc have been configured as tags or locations. The new SmartAdd functionality -- which is otherwise very cool and welcomed -- is now killing me as I need to keep track of whether my tags are with or w/out geographic data and therefore remember whether I need to type "@" or "#" in SmartAdd!
Am I missing something?
Ramon
Can someone please explain the notion of locations vs tags? It seems to me that locations are basically tags that have an extra bit of geographic data associated with them. So it is strange to me that they are treated so differently in the UI (e.g. locations appear in tag clouds but not in task lists, they use different syntaxes in Smart Add, etc).
I've generally not really understood why locations are treated so differently than tags. It seems like locations are just tags with a little bit of geo-metadata, but other than that it seems like the RTM user experience would be simpler if they were treated the same (e.g. have both tags and locations appear after tasks in task lists).
For example, is it a common use case to have @home as a location and #home as a tag, and want to treat these separately? Couldn't there just be a single type of tag, which optionally has a geo location on it?
I'm trying to understand whether there is a particular set of use cases or design goals that really motivate keeping these distinct. Maybe I'm missing something, but my RTM user experience would be much simpler if these two features were merged. As it is, I have a hard time remembering whether "home", "work", "store", etc have been configured as tags or locations. The new SmartAdd functionality -- which is otherwise very cool and welcomed -- is now killing me as I need to keep track of whether my tags are with or w/out geographic data and therefore remember whether I need to type "@" or "#" in SmartAdd!
Am I missing something?
Ramon
benb says:
I use them distinctly. I have a tag @Work for tasks that are work related, but I might want to do one of those tasks from home. So the tag would be @Work, but the location would be Home.
Likewise, I might have a tag for @Home for things to do with the house, but want to complete one at work (pay bill or something) so I think they should be separate.
What I do think is that a task should be able to have multiple locations.
Likewise, I might have a tag for @Home for things to do with the house, but want to complete one at work (pay bill or something) so I think they should be separate.
What I do think is that a task should be able to have multiple locations.
annevoss says:
Locations are great if you use (for example) the iPhone application, which is actually location aware. You can create smart lists that display "tasks near by" where near-by is a range that can be set in the search query.
mehardin says:
benb:
Barring said iPhone application, locations are simply tags with GPS coordinates. If you aren't using a smart phone that can take advantage of the "tasks near by" feature, you are just as well off using a tag instead of a location. Since you generally know if you are at home or at work, you don't really need those set up as locations. For the example you gave with home and work would work well with four tags, no locations.
"@work" for tasks that must be done AT work, regardless of whether they were personal or work related.
"@home" for tasks that must be done AT home, regardless of whether they are work related.
"work" for work related tasks, regardless of where you do them and,
"home" for personal tasks, regardless of where you do them.
Personally I don't use the last one. Anything that doesn't have a "work" tag is personal.
Barring said iPhone application, locations are simply tags with GPS coordinates. If you aren't using a smart phone that can take advantage of the "tasks near by" feature, you are just as well off using a tag instead of a location. Since you generally know if you are at home or at work, you don't really need those set up as locations. For the example you gave with home and work would work well with four tags, no locations.
"@work" for tasks that must be done AT work, regardless of whether they were personal or work related.
"@home" for tasks that must be done AT home, regardless of whether they are work related.
"work" for work related tasks, regardless of where you do them and,
"home" for personal tasks, regardless of where you do them.
Personally I don't use the last one. Anything that doesn't have a "work" tag is personal.
be.grohe says:
you could create a smart list with tasks that have the tag Work but not the location Work and another smart list with tasks that have the tag Home but not the location Home...
then check these on a regular base to add the location!
then check these on a regular base to add the location!
benb says:
@mehardin: Yes, that would work too, but I do have a phone that is location aware, so I find it quire useful.
But I would still love to have multiple locations assigned to 1 task.
But I would still love to have multiple locations assigned to 1 task.
felciano says:
Hi all --
Thanks for the replies, but I'm still confused about why these need to be so distinct in the RTM user experience, especially with the new SmartAdd syntax that overloads the "@" symbol.
@benb, do you ever mis-tag things (e.g. "@home" instead of "home")? I find this happening frequently, especially with the new SmartAdd syntax (too many symbol prefixes now!). For example, if I understand your scenario, you've created:
1. a tag called "@Work"
2. a tag called "@Home"
3. a location called "Work" with geolocation associated with it.
4. a location called "Home" with geolocation associated with it.
So, when creating a Home task that you'd like to get done while physically at the office, using the new SmartAdd functionality you start something like:
Pay my bill
and then want to add the details. If you keep typing and now see
Pay my bill @Work
What does this mean? The @Work tag? Or the office location?
Ramon
Thanks for the replies, but I'm still confused about why these need to be so distinct in the RTM user experience, especially with the new SmartAdd syntax that overloads the "@" symbol.
@benb, do you ever mis-tag things (e.g. "@home" instead of "home")? I find this happening frequently, especially with the new SmartAdd syntax (too many symbol prefixes now!). For example, if I understand your scenario, you've created:
1. a tag called "@Work"
2. a tag called "@Home"
3. a location called "Work" with geolocation associated with it.
4. a location called "Home" with geolocation associated with it.
So, when creating a Home task that you'd like to get done while physically at the office, using the new SmartAdd functionality you start something like:
Pay my bill
and then want to add the details. If you keep typing and now see
Pay my bill @Work
What does this mean? The @Work tag? Or the office location?
Ramon
andrewski (Remember The Milk) says:
Ramon, your example would set the location; Pay my bill #@Work would set the "@work" tag. Pay my bill @Work #@work would set both. :)