UE Plugin

POIs and Custom POIs

Back-end-generated POIs

Step-by-step instruction (CustomPOI system 1.0)

Custom POIs

Custom POIs defined in the Back-end

User Generated POIs

Retrieving Custom POIs

Tag Suggestions for User Generated POIs

Back-end-generated POIs

A Point Of Interest is simply a spot in the world. It is exactly defined through its geographical position, not an area, a shape, or bounds. Nevertheless, COALA can generate POIs out of shapes if needed.

Before a POI can be generated by the COALA Plugin, you have to define it in the Points Of Interest section in the Back-end.

(Tip #1: When creating a project in our Back-end, select the "PaperMap" template to generate a predefined set of the settings that match the configuration provided with this Plugin.)

(Tip #2: You can add CoalaTags to the POI generation (Nodes Graph) to get more complex Point Of Interests. For example, this would allow you to let a "Master Thief Lord" spawn only in bars at midnight between 0 and 4 am. Check out possible CoalaTags here.)

Step-by-step instruction (CustomPOI system 1.0)

We have prepared a "ready to use" user interface where you can add a Custom POI on your current location. Additionally, you can retrieve a name suggestion from COALA.

The very first action is to check if the UI element is visible: Open the "WI_Player_CoalaChild2" widget and look at the "Visibility" field highlighted in the image below.

Next, click the "add custom poi at my current location" button while the editor is in play mode.

This will cause the "SET CUSTOM POI" UI to appear. Just enter a name/tag for the POI you want to place in the highlighted field below.

Alternatively, you can click on the "Choose POI Tag" option to receive suggestions for the name of the custom POI.

As soon you label your custom POI, the "SEND POI DATA" button pops up. For this example we will name it "poi_unreal_wiki". After clicking the button, your custom POI data is sent to the COALA server and becomes immediately available.

To verify whether the Custom POI is available, check the list for Custom POIs available to your project at the Back-end.

The current solution modifies the name of the POI you entered in the previous step by adding the timestamp at the end of the name's string. Make sure your "custom poi config" exactly matches the Name in the backend, otherwise it is not shown.

Custom POIs

A Custom POI behaves in general the same as a Back-end-generated POI but it you are free to decide its exact location anywhere in the world. Additionally, it can hold your own data in a "Payload". There are two different kinds of custom POIs.

Uploaded by the project owner in the Back-end
User generated ones

Custom POIs defined in the Back-end

Check the instructions here on how to create your own custom POIs.

Each Custom POI consists of a name, the coordinates, and an optional payload.

User Generated POIs

Use the Make Coala Set Custom POIRequest Blueprint node to let users send their own POIs to COALA. You need to input a position for the new POI defined by Longitude and Latitude as well as the Name you want to give the new POI.

You can also add a custom Payload string which will be sent with this POI whenever it is requested from the server. This way you can add custom data to a POI. Say that for example you want players to be able to create buildings on the map. You can use the Custom POI system to share those buildings with other players and add a custom Payload to share who the owner of the building is and what level the building has.

Retrieving Custom POIs

Similarly to regular POIs you can set up which Actor should represent a custom POI on the map in the Details page of the BP_Coala Actor. The given actor should inherit from ACoalaCustomPOIActor. ACoalaCustomPOIActor has a Public Data field which contains the information associated with that POI, including the custom Payload.

Tag Suggestions for User Generated POIs

Use the “Make Coala Get Custom POI Suggestions Request” Blueprint node to retrieve a suggested list of tags for a given location. COALA will look up which tags are present in that location and send them back as a list which can then be parsed into an array with the “Parse Custom POI Suggestions Response” node. These tag suggestions can for example be used to name user-generated Custom POIs.

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