Every town has an address book that exists only in people's heads: where the good market is, which square fills up in the evening, where the spring water runs, which pitch has lights. Public pins move that knowledge from heads onto the map, where a newcomer — or a visitor from two wilayas away — can find it.
What makes a place worth a public pin
The test is simple: would you point it out to someone who just moved in? Markets and weekly souks, main squares and gathering places, springs and fountains, beaches and swimming spots, stadiums and pitches, bus and taxi stations, post offices, the town's landmark café. Not private businesses — that is what business pins are for — but the shared places a town actually runs on.
How to add a good one
- Drop the pin exactly on the entrance, not on the middle of the roof. People will navigate to it.
- Name it the way locals say it, not the official plaque nobody uses. If both matter, put the local name first.
- One clear photo taken on site beats three downloaded ones.
- A line of useful context: the souk is on Fridays, the spring runs dry in August, parking is behind the mosque.
Pins age — help them stay true
Places change: the market moves, the pitch closes for works. If you find a pin that no longer matches reality, report it or add a correction. A map the community maintains is only as good as its last update, and small corrections are as valuable as new pins.
Why bother
Because the map is what everyone opens first. A town whose public places are pinned well is a town where posts make sense — "near the old market" means something — and where visitors, buyers and workers orient themselves in seconds. Your five pins make every other post in your town easier to read.
Where Brikoula fits
Open the map, long-press where the place is, choose the public pin type, and describe it like a local. It takes two minutes, it is free, and the whole town gets to use it.