Getting Started with Notion Places: A Complete Guide

Notion Places (the Place property) lets you store geographic coordinates, addresses, and place names in any database, transforming Notion into a powerful location management tool. You can then export these locations to Google Earth, Garmin devices, and other mapping apps using standard formats like KML, GPX, and GeoJSON.

Whether you're planning a trip, tracking real estate listings, or cataloging your favorite restaurants, the Place property transforms your Notion databases into location-aware tools that can go far beyond simple note-taking.

Understanding Notion's Place Property

The Place property is a special database column type that stores geographic coordinates along with address information. Unlike a simple text field where you might type an address, the Place property actually understands geography. When you add a location, Notion stores the location name, full address, and precise latitude and longitude coordinates.

This geographic awareness means your locations aren't just text sitting in a database. They can be visualized on maps, exported to GPS devices, and shared with mapping applications that understand coordinates. Your data becomes truly portable. For a deeper dive into capabilities and limitations, see our complete guide to the Notion Place property.

Adding Place Properties to Your Database

Setting up a Place property takes just a moment. Open your Notion database in any view—table, board, or gallery all work fine—and click the plus button in the column header to add a new property. From the dropdown, select "Place" and give it a meaningful name like "Location" or "Address."

Once the property exists, clicking any cell in that column opens a search interface. Start typing an address or place name, and Notion will autocomplete suggestions while automatically fetching the correct coordinates. Being specific with your searches helps tremendously—"Central Park, New York" will give you better results than just "Central Park." Always take a moment to verify that Notion selected the correct location, especially for places with common names. Keeping your location names clean and consistent will also make your exports more useful later.

Real-World Use Cases for Notion Places

The Place property shines across countless scenarios, and seeing how others use it might spark ideas for your own workflows.

Travel planners create databases of destinations, hotels, restaurants, and attractions. With each entry tagged with a Place property, they can visualize entire trips on a map, export waypoints to GPS devices for navigation, and share interactive maps with travel companions. The database becomes a living travel guide that works both online and offline. Learn more in our guide to team travel planning in Notion.

Real estate professionals track property listings with addresses and coordinates, making it easy to see neighborhood patterns and export locations to Google Earth for aerial views. House hunters can organize their search geographically, while property managers keep tabs on their entire portfolio at a glance.

Food enthusiasts build personal restaurant guides, tracking places they want to try alongside places they've visited with ratings and notes. Exporting to a phone's GPS means never forgetting that hole-in-the-wall spot someone recommended.

Photographers catalog shooting locations with exact coordinates for sunrise and sunset positions, notes on best times and conditions, and GPX exports for hiking to remote spots. When you find the perfect vantage point, you'll never lose it again.

Sales teams organize client and prospect locations for territory planning and route optimization. Exported waypoints make field visits more efficient, and managers can visualize coverage at a glance.

Exporting Notion Places with Notion to Maps

While Notion excels at organizing location data, it doesn't natively export to mapping formats. That's where Notion to Maps bridges the gap. The service connects to your Notion workspace and converts your Place properties into standard geographic formats that work with virtually any mapping application.

The process is straightforward: connect your Notion account to authorize access, select a database with Place properties, choose your preferred format, and either download the file or share an interactive map link. Within seconds, your carefully curated Notion data becomes portable.

Choosing the Right Export Format

Notion to Maps supports four industry-standard formats, each suited to different purposes. The table below summarizes when to use each format:

KML files work best for visualization in tools like Google Earth, Google My Maps, and ArcGIS. If you're creating presentations or want to explore your locations in 3D with satellite imagery, KML is your format.

GPX is the language of navigation devices. Garmin units, Gaia GPS, AllTrails, and Komoot all speak GPX fluently. Planning a road trip or hiking adventure? Export to GPX and load your waypoints directly onto your device.

GeoJSON serves web developers building custom maps. If you're integrating locations into a website using Mapbox, Leaflet, or similar libraries, GeoJSON provides the structured data you need.

CSV offers universal spreadsheet compatibility. When you need to analyze your location data in Excel or Google Sheets, or feed it into other data tools, CSV keeps things simple and accessible.

Getting Started Today

Ready to turn your Notion places into exportable maps? Start by adding Place properties to your existing databases, then populate them with addresses or coordinates for the locations you care about. Once your data is in place, connect to Notion to Maps and export your first map.

As your location database grows, you'll want to develop an organizational system. Check out our guide on organizing 100+ locations in Notion for strategies that scale.

Your Notion places deserve to go beyond the database. With the right tools, they can guide your next adventure, close your next deal, or power your next project. The locations you've carefully collected are more valuable when they can travel with you.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I add a Place property to my Notion database?

Open any Notion database, click the plus icon to add a new property column, and select "Place" from the property type dropdown. Name it something descriptive like "Location." Click any cell in that column to search for places by name or address. Notion automatically fetches and stores the coordinates, address, and place name.

What's the difference between Notion Place and Location properties?

The Place property is Notion's official property type for geographic data, storing structured coordinates, addresses, and place names with mapping service integration. There is no separate "Location" property in Notion. Some users create text properties named "Location" for simple address storage, but these lack the coordinate data needed for mapping and GPS export.

Can I import locations from Google Maps to Notion?

There's no direct import feature. To add Google Maps locations to Notion, right-click any point in Google Maps to copy its coordinates, then paste into Notion's Place property search field. For saved places, you'll need to search and add each one individually. While manual, this process lets you add custom properties and notes that Google Maps doesn't support.

How many locations can I store in a Notion database?

Notion doesn't impose a hard limit on database rows. You can store thousands of locations with Place properties. Very large databases (500+ entries) may load more slowly, especially with complex properties. Use filtered views and good organizational practices to maintain performance. See our guide on organizing 100+ locations for tips.

Can I export Notion Place property data to GPS devices?

Yes, but not directly from Notion. Notion's native export doesn't separate coordinates into usable columns. Use Notion to Maps to export your Place properties to GPX format, then import into Garmin Connect, Gaia GPS, AllTrails, or any GPS device or app that accepts GPX files. Your waypoints will work offline without cell service.