Search by radius and publish with approximate location on Colombia Move

The search for local listings just got more precise: now you can search by radius and post with approximate location. This helps when the entire city is too large, but an exact neighborhood still has few listings.

The idea is simple: if you're looking for a room near Laureles, a farm at a reasonable distance from Cali, a motorcycle in your area, or a local service near your home, you shouldn't depend only on a city-by-city list. Now you can go to search listings and filter by a point and a radius in kilometers.

What you can do now

• Search near you. Use your location and choose a radius like 5, 10, 25, or 50 km.
• Search from a city. Type Medellin, Bogota, Cali, Barranquilla, or another municipality and use the center as a reference.
• Combine filters. You can use radius together with category, price, listing type, and search text.
• Post better. In the posting flow, sellers can add an approximate location so the listing appears in nearby searches.

Why we don't ask for the exact address

Colombia does have addresses and postal codes, but digital coverage doesn't work the same as in the United States. In many municipalities, rural areas, and neighborhoods, an address may not appear perfect on open maps, or it may have several ways to be written. That's why we don't want to force anyone to write a complete address to be able to post.

Our approach is more Colombian and safer: city or municipality required, neighborhood/rural area when it makes sense, and an optional approximate location for cases where distance matters. In housing, farms, vehicles, local services, and in-person jobs, that approximation greatly improves the quality of contact without turning the listing into an exposure of the private address.

How to use radius search

On the homepage: open the side filters on desktop or the filter sheet on mobile. In the distance section you can use your location, search for a city as a reference point, or clear the radius to go back to a national or city-wide search.

On /search: use the location block to activate the radius. If you already entered with a URL that includes latitude, longitude, and radius, the page keeps that context and orders nearby results first.

On /post: when the listing type benefits from location, you can search for an address or place, click on the map, drag the pin, or use your location. If the place doesn't appear, we don't block the posting: you can choose the approximate point manually.

What happens if the place doesn't exist on the map

This will happen sometimes, especially with rural areas, new developments, informal neighborhood names, or addresses written in local ways. That's why the flow doesn't depend only on the geocoder. If a search doesn't find results, the seller can move the map and choose an approximate point. For buyers, searching by city and neighborhood continues to work as a backup.

We're also using location carefully: rounded coordinates, radius in kilometers, and public labels that don't need to reveal the exact door. The goal is trust and liquidity, not invasive precision.

Why this matters for Colombia

Marketplaces fail when location is either too broad or too strict. If everything only lives at the city level, Bogota, Medellin, or Cali feel enormous. If we push everyone to neighborhoods with little inventory, the user finds empty pages. Radius search gives us a middle ground: city first, neighborhood as refinement, and proximity when the user really needs it.

This change also strengthens our use of OpenStreetMap. We remain OSM-first for maps and geocoding, but with caching, limits, explicit search, and an experience that doesn't treat Colombia as if it were a clone of US ZIP codes.

If you're going to post for the first time, also check out the step-by-step guide on how to post a free listing. For housing, this improvement works very well together with the guide on affordable rent in Colombia, because it allows you to move from a broad search to a realistic area.

What's coming

• More city and category pages that use real counts to avoid empty experiences.
• Better suggestions for neighborhoods, rural areas, and municipalities with active inventory.
• Alerts with backup: exact neighborhood when there's enough supply, city or nearby when there isn't.
• More map context for housing, farms, services, and in-person jobs.

We want this marketplace to be the most useful in the country, not just another list of listings. Location is a central part of that: better contacts, fewer lost searches, fewer dead pages, and more trust for those who post.

Frequently asked questions about location

How much does it cost to use approximate location?

We don't add a charge for using this field. Approximate location is part of the posting flow and helps your listing appear when distance matters.

Where do I activate location when posting?

On /post, after choosing the main details of your listing, you'll see the location block when it applies to the posting type. You can search for a place, use the map, or just leave the city if you don't want to add a pin.

Do I need to put my exact address?

No. You can post with city or municipality, and add an approximate location if it helps the listing type. For housing, local services, vehicles, and in-person jobs it's usually more useful than for products that ship nationwide.

What do I do if my address or rural area doesn't appear?

Use the map manually. You can move the point to the correct area even if the search doesn't find the exact name. This helps with local names, recent developments, or rural areas that aren't yet complete on open maps.

Is it safe to use approximate location?

Choose an approximate point and avoid writing sensitive information in the title or description. The feature is designed to show area and proximity, not to turn the listing into an exact address record.

Can I combine radius with price or category?

Yes. The radius works together with category, listing type, budget, search text, and other filters. This helps find nearby results without losing other important criteria.

Why use kilometers and not neighborhoods only?

Because many neighborhoods still have little inventory. The radius allows showing nearby options without sending the user to an empty page. When a neighborhood has enough listings, the neighborhood filter is still useful.