Landmarks vs Markers vs Overlays

When building a sophisticated mapping application, choosing the right type of object to use for your specific needs is crucial. To assist in making an informed decision, we compare the three core mapping entities in the table below:

Characteristic	Landmarks	Markers	Overlays
Select from map	basic selection using cursorSelectionLandmarks()	advanced selection using cursorSelectionMarkers(), providing matched marker and the collection it belongs to, plus positional details such as the marker’s index within its collection, which part/segment or vertex was hit and so on	basic selection using cursorSelectionOverlayItems()
On the map by default	yes	no	yes, if present within the style
Customizable render settings	basic level of customization using highlights	high level of customization using UnlMarkerRenderSettings	within the style (in Studio). Also allows customization using highlights
Visibility and layering	toggleable based on the category and store	can individually be changed	toggleable based on the category and overlay
Searchable	yes	no	yes
Can be used for route calculation	yes	no	no
Can be used for alarms	yes	no	yes
Create custom items	programmatically within the client application	programmatically within the client application	using uploaded GeoJSON Data Sets (in Studio); they cannot be created within the client application(1)
Available offline	yes	yes	no, with some exceptions
Shared among users	yes, only for predefined landmarks. Changes made to landmarks and custom landmarks are local	no	yes, the overlay items are accessible by all users given they have the correct style applied
Extra info	address contact info, category, etc.	no	data with flexible structure (ParameterList)

📝 Info

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