Areas¶
Areas are centrally managed geographic units of a hub. They define the spatial scope of a place or content source and form the basis for content routing.
Why Areas?¶
Areas are structured concepts — the set is finite and deliberately managed by an hub admin. In contrast, tags are flexible content labels that emerge from the ingestion process and do not need central administration (→ Keyword Tags).
| Property | Areas | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| Management | Central, by Hub Admin | Automatic via Keyword Tag rules |
| Cardinality | Finite, small (typically 10–50) | Open-ended, grows with content |
| Routing-relevant | Yes — determines content delivery | Can be used as a filter criterion |
| Data integrity | Referential integrity via FK | Free strings |
Creating an area¶
Click "Neues Gebiet" (New area — floating action button, bottom right).
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | ✅ | Unique, immutable identifier for the area |
| Description | ❌ | Optional note for the admin team |
Name is immutable
The name of an area cannot be changed after creation, as it is used as a reference in places and sources.
Choose a stable, precise name (e.g. bretten-city rather than Bretten).
Editing an area¶
Only the description can be changed after creation. Click the pencil icon next to an area.
Deleting an area¶
The trash icon permanently removes an area.
Delete protection
An area cannot be deleted while it is referenced by at least one place or source. Before a delete attempt, the UI shows which places and sources reference the area.
Usage count¶
The Usage column shows how many places and sources currently reference the area. This number is queried live from the database.
Relationship to places and sources¶
- Places can be linked to one or more areas → defines the geographic scope.
- Sources can have default areas assigned → content from that source is indexed for those areas.
- Routing rules can filter on areas → enables geo-sensitive content routing.
See also: Place Settings, Sources, Routing Rules.