Shared Awareness
Awareness Capacity Explained
How PeerMesh measures the Shared Awareness you can contribute to each group.
Awareness Capacity is the amount of Shared Awareness a user can contribute to each group they participate in.
Markers, Areas, and Routes all add context to a group’s shared map.
The group’s Shared Awareness is the combined result of contributions from all members.
Why Awareness Capacity exists
PeerMesh is built around Shared Awareness.
Group members build Shared Awareness by contributing information to a shared map:
- Important points
- Important regions
- Planned routes
- Observations
- Coordination context
Each object adds to what the group can see together. Awareness Capacity is a simple way to measure how much shared map knowledge a user can contribute to a group.
Key Insight
Capacity is not about file size. Capacity is about shared context.
Individual contribution vs Shared Awareness
Awareness Capacity belongs to individual users. Shared Awareness belongs to the group.
Each member contributes markers, areas, and routes. The group sees the combined result.
Personal Contribution
What you can contribute
- Your Capacity
- Your Markers
- Your Areas
- Your Routes
Group Awareness
What the group can see together
- All visible awareness objects
- Contributions from all members
- Total Group Awareness Points
Key Insight
Awareness Capacity is personal. Shared Awareness is collective.
Ownership and visibility
Awareness objects are owned by the users who create them.
Alice may create a Water Source Marker and a Campsite Marker. Bob may create a Flood Area and an Alternate Route. Both users are contributing awareness objects to the same group.
Although those objects belong to individual creators, they are created inside a group context. That means all group members can see them, while ownership remains attached to the creator.
Capacity applies per user, per group
Awareness Capacity is not a global user quota. It is also not a group-wide shared quota.
Capacity applies separately to every group a user joins. Capacity usage in one group does not affect another group.
Free User
Group A
25 / 30 Capacity Used
Free User
Group B
10 / 30 Capacity Used
Key Insight
Your capacity usage in one group does not reduce your capacity in another group.
Capacity is not just storage
Awareness Capacity does not simply measure how much data is stored.
A Marker may be small as data, but it can be important as group knowledge. An Area may cover a large region and affect many decisions. A Route may describe the movement plan for the whole group.
Awareness Capacity measures the amount of meaningful shared context you contribute, not raw file size.
What uses Awareness Capacity?
Different map objects use different amounts of capacity.
Important note
Routes use capacity because they represent planned knowledge. Trails do not use capacity because they represent recorded movement history.
Trail storage and replay may have their own limits in the future, but they are not part of Awareness Capacity.
Route capacity is based on waypoints
A Route is made from waypoints.
Each waypoint represents part of the planned path. The more detailed the Route, the more capacity it uses.
Capacity cost
4
This Route has 4 waypoints, so it uses 4 capacity units.
Key Insight
Route cost equals waypoint count. Start and end points are included.
Capacity is a personal contribution budget
Awareness Capacity is shared across your own Markers, Areas, and Routes within a group. This gives you flexibility.
You can choose how to use your contribution capacity based on what matters most in that group.
Marker-heavy contribution
- You add 30 Markers
- 0 Areas
- 0 Routes
Your capacity used
30 / 30
Mixed contribution
- You add 15 Markers
- 2 Areas
- 1 Route with 5 waypoints
Your capacity used
30 / 30
Route planning contribution
- You add 10 Markers
- 1 Area
- 2 Routes with 6 waypoints each
Your capacity used
27 / 30
Group Awareness Points
Group Awareness Points describe the total awareness contributed by all members of a group.
This number is not a limit. It is an aggregate value that describes the scale of the group’s Shared Awareness.
Formula
Group Awareness Points = Sum of all member contributions
Alice
25 points
Bob
30 points
Carol
15 points
Group Awareness Points
70 points
Key Insight
Group Awareness Points measure the scale of collective awareness. They are not a quota.
Free and Plus capacity
Different PeerMesh plans support different contribution needs inside each group.
Free
Awareness Capacity per user, per group
30
Best for:
- Friends
- Family
- Small groups
- Casual activities
- Trying PeerMesh
Plus
Awareness Capacity per user, per group
200
Best for:
- Group leaders
- Outdoor organizers
- Larger groups
- Repeated activities
- More detailed route planning
- Longer-term shared awareness
Free supports small-group contribution needs. Plus supports larger and more detailed coordination from each participant.
Why Trails do not use Awareness Capacity
Routes and Trails are different.
Route
Planned movement
Routes are part of the group’s active shared plan, so they use Awareness Capacity.
Trail
Recorded movement
Trails are movement history, so they do not use Awareness Capacity.
Trail features may have their own limits, such as trail history duration, trail replay availability, or trail archive access. These limits are separate from Awareness Capacity.
Capacity grows with group knowledge
A user who only contributes a few important points needs little capacity.
A user coordinating larger activities may contribute more:
- More markers
- More areas
- More detailed routes
- More shared context
As more members contribute awareness objects, the group’s Shared Awareness becomes richer and more useful.
Summary
- Awareness Capacity measures how much Shared Awareness a user can contribute to each group.
- Awareness Capacity is per user, per group.
- It is not a global user quota or a group-wide shared quota.
- Markers use 1 capacity unit.
- Areas use 5 capacity units.
- Routes use capacity based on their number of waypoints.
- Trails do not use Awareness Capacity.
- Group Awareness Points measure the total awareness contributed by all group members.
- Free supports small-group contribution needs.
- Plus supports larger and more detailed contributions inside each group.
Next
Maps, Markers, Areas, Routes, and Trails
Learn how each map object contributes to Shared Awareness and when to use each one.