Identifiers: format reference and examples
Trackables use several identifiers that look similar at first but serve different jobs. The short public code stays globally unique, the short secret code stays globally unique, and the system keeps those two spaces collision-free against each other so a short public code can never also be someone else's short secret code.
| Format | Example | Purpose | Uniqueness rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public code token | LN-7K4V9T |
Public-safe token used in public links and public lookup. | Globally unique across all trackables and also unique against short secret codes. |
| Public entry route | https://locationnotes.com/trackable/LN-7K4V9T |
Short shareable entry URL. The browser can localize this and then open the public page at <code>/{lang}/trackable/{publicCode}</code>. | The route stays unique because the short public token itself is globally unique. |
| Short secret route | https://locationnotes.com/trackable/LN4C8R2Z |
Possession-based entry URL for someone who physically has the item. | The prefix matches the site family, but there is no dash so it is visibly different from the public code. |
| System short secret code | LN4C8R2Z |
Short possession credential for manual entry and active-session activation. | Globally unique across all trackables and also unique against public codes. |
| Alternate system prefix | GT8M2Q7V |
Same short-secret pattern on sister deployments that use the GT prefix. | Unique across all trackables on that deployment. |
| Bring-your-own secret code | ITEM42X |
Advanced external code for a physical item that already came with its own identifier. | Unique across all trackables. It must not start with LN, GT, or GC. |
| Private scan route | https://locationnotes.com/trackable/AB4D5QW2...<100 chars total>... |
Long QR entry URL so scanning can activate the possession flow without a form field. | Unique across all trackables. |
| Private scan token | AB4D5QW2...<100 chars total>... |
Opaque QR token using only A-Z and 1-5. | Unique across all trackables. |
When someone types a generated short secret code or a generated public-code token by hand, lookup is forgiving about the most common smudges. Generated code lookup treats O like 0, I or L like 1, S like 5, and U like V. For system short secret codes, that replacement logic applies to the generated body, not to the literal prefix like LN, GT, or GC. Public codes use the same configured prefix plus a dash, so they are visually different from short secret codes at a glance.
The most important practical rule is that the public route is safe to share, while the short secret code and the private scan route are not. Secret codes and private scan URLs are shown only once during creation. After that one reveal, normal pages and normal API reads do not show them again. The one special exception is departure-oriented personal export, where strictly personal user-owned secrets can be included so the departing owner can recover them.
Because the short public code is globally unique, homepage lookup can safely accept a public token like LN-7K4V9T by itself and route to the correct public page without guessing between multiple trackables.
The outward-facing entry URL for a public code, a short secret code, or a long private scan token always starts from <code>/trackable/{code}</code>. Public-code visitors then land on the localized public page at <code>/{lang}/trackable/{publicCode}</code>. Owner-scoped website trackable URLs should not exist.
Activation and ownership
A newly created trackable may start activated or unactivated. Activation always happens at the individual item level. The activating user chooses the final title and description for items that require explicit activation-time identity.
Trackable read models also carry a last-activity timestamp so dashboards, detail pages, and watch lists can show recent motion or interaction at a glance.
- An unactivated trackable cannot log new journey activity and cannot receive comments.
- If activated to a user, that user becomes the ownership scope.
- If activated to a team, the team becomes the ownership scope.
- The creator and the owner are not always the same person.
Groups and fallback metadata
Trackables can be created one at a time or in groups of up to 100. A group can supply fallback item metadata, show activation progress across the batch, and give you one place to move between managed and public item pages.
- Some group-created items can safely inherit group defaults when their own metadata is blank.
- Other group-created items require the eventual activator to choose their own title and description instead of inheriting the creator's wording forever.
- The full fallback, editing, and detach-first rules live on the dedicated What is a Trackable Group? guide.
Trackables and notes
Trackables become movement history through journey stops. A note can attach one or more trackables at that place, and a direct location report can add a stop without creating a note. The journey keeps the place snapshot while notes remain their own editable records.
Place, history, and access stay separate: the journey stop preserves the snapped coordinate, the note keeps its own editable record, and the note's visibility plus required access scope decides who can open note content.
This is also where associated-trackable note visibility becomes meaningful. A note can start in that visibility mode and still behave like a public note at first. The first linked trackable then flips the note into trackable-gated discovery for everyone except the owner, authorized team members, and viewers who already unlocked one of the linked trackables.
Note attachment is intentionally deliberate. The website asks for one trackable code at a time, that field expects an existing short secret code, and a public code is meant for the public trackable page instead. If a third-party item is not registered yet, create it from the trackables page first. Reserved site prefixes such as LN, GT, and GC stay off-limits for bring-your-own codes.
- No associated trackables yet: the note behaves like a public note.
- After the first association: the note drops out of anonymous public discovery and normal public note-page access.
- Unlocked viewer: someone who already unlocked one associated trackable can open the note page and use the connected public note-page API routes.
- Owner or authorized team member: keeps normal note access and management rights.
- Saving a note with attached trackables can create stop snapshots for each attached item.
- Signed-in users can also log a simple direct map stop without creating a note first, then convert that stop into a note later if they want richer detail.
- A note-backed stop snapshots the coordinate when the trackable is attached, so moving the note later does not rewrite the older trackable path.
- Trackable read models can also surface the current visible notes at that coordinate, so the route can stay accurate even when nearby notes later change.
- The trackable page can preload the full route because these journeys are expected to stay human-scale.
- Map pins and the linked stop list both lead back to the note page when the viewer has permission.
- Private notes can still contribute coordinate-only journey points for viewers who are not allowed to read the note itself.
Visible Once Accessed versus Always Visible To Everyone
Trackables are easier to explain as Visible Once Accessed versus Always Visible To Everyone. An Always Visible To Everyone trackable has a shareable public route. A Visible Once Accessed trackable still has a normal page, but only signed-in owners, team scopes, or people already linked through the secret access flow can keep opening it.
The short secret code and QR flow are how possession is proven the first time. After a signed-in account uses that Visible Once Accessed flow successfully, LocationNotes can keep linking that trackable to the account so future signed-in devices do not need the secret again just to reopen, follow, or comment on the item. That saved access becomes one of the ways a trackable can appear later on the signed-in My Journeys page alongside owned and team journeys.
Trackables and browser sessions
Entering a secret code or scanning a valid private QR can create an active trackable session on the current browser. That remembered state lets the person continue learning the flow, sign in later, and attach the trackable from note pages without re-entering the secret every time.
This active browser session is not the same thing as permanent ownership and is not the same thing as authentication. It is simply remembered possession context on the current device until the person deactivates it or the session expires. When the viewer is signed in, the same Visible Once Accessed access can also be saved to the account for later signed-in devices.
Comments and public pages
Trackable-page comments belong to the trackable itself and are separate from note-page comments. Public trackable pages are canonical journey views. Private profile pages, private team pages, and trackable pages that are only Visible Once Accessed are route-level restrictions, not global secrecy for every label related to the item.
The website's public trackable list and public trackable-group list stay multilingual so journey, inventory, and logistics data do not disappear when authored languages differ.
Switch the website language when you want localized chrome around the same public trackable data.
- Trackable names, user names, and team names can still appear in allowed listings and journey contexts.
- Owner labels can be shown as links when the route is available or as plain text with private-page hover text when it is not.
- Authenticated users can comment normally. Anonymous trackable comments and direct map reports are also allowed when this browser already has active access to that exact trackable or the caller resends its secret code or private scan access on the write request.
- Anonymous trackable comments and direct reports cannot later be edited by the person who posted them, and only the trackable owner or current team admins can remove them.
Exports, recovery, and deletion
Trackables survive deletion differently from simple personal records because they can carry shared history from many people over time. The system tries to remove the deleted user's removable personal activity without corrupting the remaining history for other users or teams.
- User and team exports now include trackable journey stops, note-backed stop history, and trackable comments.
- User exports can include strictly personal owned secret credentials.
- Team exports exclude those secrets unless the user owner is unavailable and the team needs a recovery copy.
- Deleting a user does not automatically eliminate a trackable that still matters to other people.
- Deleting a team can detach team ownership and hand control back according to the documented fallback rules.