Design Decision: Location vs. Place

With Kate's help, we resolved our location vs. place issue in the design. We're going to assume that Cluster relies on a database that maps GPS (or whatever coordinate system the phone uses to identify location) to actual places. This way, Cluster knows that you are standing inside Tully's Coffee, the CS building, or even Husky Stadium.

You also have the option to save and customize these locations for yourself in a "favorites" feature. For example, you could change the CS building to be broadcast as "The Labs" or your home address as "Home." Once you have these places saved in your favorites, you can easily drill in and set them as your current location (even when you are not physically there) without going through local search. Any place found through local search can be saved as a favorite but the list of favorites itself will be found in the "Profile" section of the Home Screen.