Ten terms that get used a lot across the app, the marketing site, and the AI-search world. Linked back to the features that use them. Hand-written, no jargon-by-AI.
A real-time read of how full a venue is, expressed as a percentage of its typical capacity at the current hour and day of week. Fused from three signals: pulse reports, anonymized geofence presence, and a per-venue live forecasting model.
Unlike Google's "popular times" historical averages — which tell you what was true on a typical Saturday at 10pm — live occupancy answers the question "how full is this place RIGHT NOW." It's the centerpoint of every feature in the Jellyfish app.
See also: Discover map · How we measure 'live' busyness
The Jellyfish color system that translates live occupancy into a visual energy reading: chill (blue, 0-25% capacity), lively (green, 25-50%), popping (yellow, 50-75%), hot (orange, 75-95%), packed (red, 95%+).
Grey means we don't have enough live signal to make a call — and we'd rather say so than guess. The thresholds are tuned per venue rather than absolute headcount, since "full" looks different at a 30-seat speakeasy versus a 500-person club.
See also: Features · Neighborhoods
A user-submitted live read of a venue's current energy, rated on a slider from cold to hot from inside the venue. One of the three signals fused into the venue's 5-band color, alongside geofence presence and live forecasting.
Each pulse decays over time so old data doesn't bias the current read. Pulses you submit are anonymous to other users; they show up in aggregate as the venue's color, not as your name on a list.
See also: Features — Pulse
An anonymized signal generated when a user's device crosses into a venue's geographic perimeter. Jellyfish never stores "user X was at venue Y at time Z" — only an aggregate count that feeds the venue's live occupancy reading.
Geofence presence is the unconscious component of crowd-sensing — it works without you opening the app. Pulse reports are the conscious one. Together they fuse with the live forecast into a single per-venue color.
See also: Privacy policy
A per-venue machine-learning model that predicts the venue's expected occupancy at the current hour-of-week from 4 weeks of historical data. When pulse and presence signals are thin, live forecasting fills the gap.
When pulse and presence signals disagree with the forecast, the forecast yields — real-time signals always win. The forecast is the floor of confidence, not the ceiling.
See also: How we measure 'live' busyness
A user-selected filter that constrains the Plan Your Night recommendations to venues matching a specific energy. Available vibes include rooftop, dive bar, cocktail lounge, dance floor, wine bar, brewery, sports bar, date night, and live music.
Picking a vibe is the entry point to a Jellyfish plan. From there, the app suggests 2-4 venues that match the vibe with their current live energy reading attached.
See also: Features — Plan Your Night
Your private friend graph inside Jellyfish — the people you opt into sharing live presence with. Crew members can see each other on the map when both have opted in. Different from a generic friends list because it's reciprocal-by-invitation and bounded.
Not every Jellyfish friend is automatically in your crew. The crew exists for people you'd actually go out with; the broader friend list is for people you'd join for one drink at most.
See also: Features — Crew
A recorded route through a single night out, captured automatically by Jellyfish from the moment you tap "Start Trail" to the moment you end it. A trail captures venues visited, time at each, and the path between them on a map.
Shareable as a single image, like a Strava activity for going out. The trail is private until you choose to share it.
See also: Features — Trails
A pre-planned multi-venue route built inside Jellyfish before leaving home. Plans pick a vibe, then recommend 2-4 venues based on live occupancy + your taste, with ETA between stops.
Plans can be locked, invited to a crew, and tracked in real time as the night unfolds. A locked plan turns into a trail automatically once you head out.
See also: Features — Plan Your Night
The geographic boundary Jellyfish uses to bucket venues into a single neighborhood. San Diego is split into 19 polygons — Pacific Beach, Gaslamp Quarter, North Park, Hillcrest, La Jolla, Little Italy, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, East Village, South Park, Bird Rock, Point Loma, Uptown/Central, Old Town, Mission Valley, Coronado, Del Mar, Encinitas, Carlsbad.
Each polygon is tuned by hand to match how locals actually describe the neighborhood — not how Google or the city planning office draws it. A bar's polygon assignment determines which "live by hood" page it appears on and which neighbors get cross-linked.
See also: All 19 neighborhoods
Every term above is something the app does. Free to download. No subscription unless you upgrade.
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