Merge pull request 'v0.11.0' (#50) from release/0.11.0 into main

## [0.11.0] - 2026-05-15

Operator-facing polish release.  All work builds on the v0.10.0 SFM integration foundation — this release is about making the day-to-day workflows (managing locations, cleaning up bad attributions, browsing deployments) faster and less error-prone.

### Added
- **Soft-remove monitoring locations** (`POST /api/projects/{p}/locations/{l}/remove` + `/restore`): mark a location as no longer actively monitored without destroying historical events.  Cascade-closes active unit assignments and cancels pending scheduled actions at the location.  Restored locations rejoin the active list (assignments are NOT auto-reopened — operator creates new ones if resuming).  Project page splits locations into Active and Removed sections; removed cards are greyed out, badged with the removal date + reason, and offer a Restore button.
- **Per-unit deployment Gantt chart** above the existing Deployment Timeline list on every seismograph unit detail page.  Plain-SVG rendering, color per location, today marker (orange dashed line), reduced-opacity bars for closed assignments, blue outlines on metadata-backfilled assignments, dashed blue underlines marking mergeable groups.  Click a bar to scroll the matching list row into view with a flash highlight.
- **Merge consecutive same-location assignments** (`POST /api/projects/{p}/assignments/merge`): operators often end up with several rows representing one continuous deployment (after remove/restore, or metadata-backfill adjacent to a manual record).  Now auto-detected and surfaceable in the timeline header — one click combines them into a single record.  Preserves the earliest record's notes + ingest source, writes an `assignment_merged` audit entry, deletes the others.
- **Delete assignment for mis-clicks** (`DELETE /api/projects/{p}/assignments/{a}`): hard-deletes a bogus assignment row that was never a real deployment.  Trash icon in each row of the location's Deployment History panel.  Refuses the delete if any `MonitoringSession` exists in the assignment's window — those should go through Unassign instead, which preserves audit history.  Writes an `assignment_deleted` UnitHistory row.
- **Drag-to-reorder location cards**: each active card has a six-dot drag handle on the left.  Drag/drop reorders the DOM and persists via `POST /api/projects/{p}/locations/reorder`.  Implementation uses native HTML5 drag-and-drop (no library).  New locations land at the end (`sort_order = max + 1`); removed locations stay sorted by removal date.
- **Three-dot kebab menu on location cards**: replaces the four inline pill buttons (Unassign / Edit / Remove / Delete) with a single ⋮ menu.  Click ⋮ to open; click outside or Escape to close; only one menu open at a time.
- **Event count on vibration location cards**: vibration cards now show "{N} events" sourced from SFM via concurrent fan-out, instead of "Sessions: 0" (sessions don't exist under the watcher-forward pipeline).  Sound locations still show session counts.
- **Project overview location map**: right column of every project's overview replaces the lightly-used Upcoming Actions panel with a Leaflet map.  One pin per active monitoring location (parsed from the `coordinates` field).  Click pin → scrolls + flashes the matching card.  Tooltip on hover.  Locations without coordinates surface as an inline hint below the map.  If the project has pending scheduled actions, a small "{N} upcoming actions →" link appears in the card header that switches to the Schedules tab.

### Changed
- **Backfill location fuzzy matcher is now stricter**: `rapidfuzz.WRatio` was over-confident on location names because their shared boilerplate vocabulary ("Area", "Loc", numbers) inflated scores.  Example false positive that prompted the change: `"Area 2 - Brookville Dam - Loc 2 East"` vs `"Area 1 - Loc 1 - 87 Jenks"` scored 86% via WRatio.  Now uses `token_set_ratio` as the base scorer plus a 0.30 penalty when the two strings have disjoint multi-digit numeric tokens.  Catches the "same project, different address number" case (`"68 Jenks"` vs `"87 Jenks"`) that pure token-set scoring still rated above 0.90.  Project matching keeps WRatio (where its leniency is desirable for typos like `1-80` vs `I-80`).

### Fixed
- **Three separate JSON.stringify quote-collision bugs**: any inline `onclick="...({...} | tojson)"` or `onclick="...${JSON.stringify(x)}..."` where `x` contained any character that JSON quotes (essentially every real-world string) broke the HTML attribute and silently un-bound the click handler.  Surfaced in three places this release; all fixed by switching to `data-*` attributes plus a trampoline function reading from `this.dataset`:
    - **Location Remove button** on the project page
    - **Metadata-backfill typeahead dropdown** (existing project + location pickers)
    - **Project-merge typeahead dropdown** (in the per-project header)
- **Project-merge modal too short to show typeahead options without scrolling**: modal body's `flex-1 overflow-y-auto` collapsed tight; added `min-height: 480px` to the modal container + `min-h-[320px]` to the body so the dropdown always has room.
- **Project location map covered modals**: Leaflet's internal panes carry z-indexes 200–800 by default and the map container didn't establish a stacking context, so those z-indexes leaked into the root and outranked modals' `z-50`.  Fixed by adding `isolation: isolate` to the map container.
- **`delete_assignment` crashed with `AttributeError`**: the safety check queried `MonitoringSession.start_time` but the actual column is `started_at`.  Every DELETE call to `/assignments/{id}` failed with 500 before doing anything.

### Migration Notes
Run on each database before deploying.  Both migrations are idempotent and non-destructive.

```bash
docker exec terra-view-terra-view-1 python3 /app/backend/migrate_add_location_removed.py
docker exec terra-view-terra-view-1 python3 /app/backend/migrate_add_location_sort_order.py
```

Or sweep all migrations at once (safe — already-applied ones no-op):

```bash
for f in backend/migrate_*.py; do
  docker exec terra-view-terra-view-1 python3 "/app/backend/$(basename $f)"
done
```

New columns added this release:
- `monitoring_locations.removed_at` (DATETIME, nullable) — NULL means active
- `monitoring_locations.removal_reason` (TEXT, nullable)
- `monitoring_locations.sort_order` (INTEGER, default 0) — seeded to alphabetical-index per project on first migration

**Deploy order matters**: migrations must run BEFORE the new code is up, otherwise the running app will throw 500s on the unrecognized columns.  Idempotent migrations make this recoverable but it's better avoided — the v0.11.0 deploy on prod hit this exact window after the v0.10.0 release.

---

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,57 @@ All notable changes to Terra-View will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [0.11.0] - 2026-05-15
+
+Operator-facing polish release.  All work builds on the v0.10.0 SFM integration foundation — this release is about making the day-to-day workflows (managing locations, cleaning up bad attributions, browsing deployments) faster and less error-prone.
+
+### Added
+- **Soft-remove monitoring locations** (`POST /api/projects/{p}/locations/{l}/remove` + `/restore`): mark a location as no longer actively monitored without destroying historical events.  Cascade-closes active unit assignments and cancels pending scheduled actions at the location.  Restored locations rejoin the active list (assignments are NOT auto-reopened — operator creates new ones if resuming).  Project page splits locations into Active and Removed sections; removed cards are greyed out, badged with the removal date + reason, and offer a Restore button.
+- **Per-unit deployment Gantt chart** above the existing Deployment Timeline list on every seismograph unit detail page.  Plain-SVG rendering, color per location, today marker (orange dashed line), reduced-opacity bars for closed assignments, blue outlines on metadata-backfilled assignments, dashed blue underlines marking mergeable groups.  Click a bar to scroll the matching list row into view with a flash highlight.
+- **Merge consecutive same-location assignments** (`POST /api/projects/{p}/assignments/merge`): operators often end up with several rows representing one continuous deployment (after remove/restore, or metadata-backfill adjacent to a manual record).  Now auto-detected and surfaceable in the timeline header — one click combines them into a single record.  Preserves the earliest record's notes + ingest source, writes an `assignment_merged` audit entry, deletes the others.
+- **Delete assignment for mis-clicks** (`DELETE /api/projects/{p}/assignments/{a}`): hard-deletes a bogus assignment row that was never a real deployment.  Trash icon in each row of the location's Deployment History panel.  Refuses the delete if any `MonitoringSession` exists in the assignment's window — those should go through Unassign instead, which preserves audit history.  Writes an `assignment_deleted` UnitHistory row.
+- **Drag-to-reorder location cards**: each active card has a six-dot drag handle on the left.  Drag/drop reorders the DOM and persists via `POST /api/projects/{p}/locations/reorder`.  Implementation uses native HTML5 drag-and-drop (no library).  New locations land at the end (`sort_order = max + 1`); removed locations stay sorted by removal date.
+- **Three-dot kebab menu on location cards**: replaces the four inline pill buttons (Unassign / Edit / Remove / Delete) with a single ⋮ menu.  Click ⋮ to open; click outside or Escape to close; only one menu open at a time.
+- **Event count on vibration location cards**: vibration cards now show "{N} events" sourced from SFM via concurrent fan-out, instead of "Sessions: 0" (sessions don't exist under the watcher-forward pipeline).  Sound locations still show session counts.
+- **Project overview location map**: right column of every project's overview replaces the lightly-used Upcoming Actions panel with a Leaflet map.  One pin per active monitoring location (parsed from the `coordinates` field).  Click pin → scrolls + flashes the matching card.  Tooltip on hover.  Locations without coordinates surface as an inline hint below the map.  If the project has pending scheduled actions, a small "{N} upcoming actions →" link appears in the card header that switches to the Schedules tab.
+
+### Changed
+- **Backfill location fuzzy matcher is now stricter**: `rapidfuzz.WRatio` was over-confident on location names because their shared boilerplate vocabulary ("Area", "Loc", numbers) inflated scores.  Example false positive that prompted the change: `"Area 2 - Brookville Dam - Loc 2 East"` vs `"Area 1 - Loc 1 - 87 Jenks"` scored 86% via WRatio.  Now uses `token_set_ratio` as the base scorer plus a 0.30 penalty when the two strings have disjoint multi-digit numeric tokens.  Catches the "same project, different address number" case (`"68 Jenks"` vs `"87 Jenks"`) that pure token-set scoring still rated above 0.90.  Project matching keeps WRatio (where its leniency is desirable for typos like `1-80` vs `I-80`).
+
+### Fixed
+- **Three separate JSON.stringify quote-collision bugs**: any inline `onclick="...({...} | tojson)"` or `onclick="...${JSON.stringify(x)}..."` where `x` contained any character that JSON quotes (essentially every real-world string) broke the HTML attribute and silently un-bound the click handler.  Surfaced in three places this release; all fixed by switching to `data-*` attributes plus a trampoline function reading from `this.dataset`:
+    - **Location Remove button** on the project page
+    - **Metadata-backfill typeahead dropdown** (existing project + location pickers)
+    - **Project-merge typeahead dropdown** (in the per-project header)
+- **Project-merge modal too short to show typeahead options without scrolling**: modal body's `flex-1 overflow-y-auto` collapsed tight; added `min-height: 480px` to the modal container + `min-h-[320px]` to the body so the dropdown always has room.
+- **Project location map covered modals**: Leaflet's internal panes carry z-indexes 200–800 by default and the map container didn't establish a stacking context, so those z-indexes leaked into the root and outranked modals' `z-50`.  Fixed by adding `isolation: isolate` to the map container.
+- **`delete_assignment` crashed with `AttributeError`**: the safety check queried `MonitoringSession.start_time` but the actual column is `started_at`.  Every DELETE call to `/assignments/{id}` failed with 500 before doing anything.
+
+### Migration Notes
+Run on each database before deploying.  Both migrations are idempotent and non-destructive.
+
+```bash
+docker exec terra-view-terra-view-1 python3 /app/backend/migrate_add_location_removed.py
+docker exec terra-view-terra-view-1 python3 /app/backend/migrate_add_location_sort_order.py
+```
+
+Or sweep all migrations at once (safe — already-applied ones no-op):
+
+```bash
+for f in backend/migrate_*.py; do
+  docker exec terra-view-terra-view-1 python3 "/app/backend/$(basename $f)"
+done
+```
+
+New columns added this release:
+- `monitoring_locations.removed_at` (DATETIME, nullable) — NULL means active
+- `monitoring_locations.removal_reason` (TEXT, nullable)
+- `monitoring_locations.sort_order` (INTEGER, default 0) — seeded to alphabetical-index per project on first migration
+
+**Deploy order matters**: migrations must run BEFORE the new code is up, otherwise the running app will throw 500s on the unrecognized columns.  Idempotent migrations make this recoverable but it's better avoided — the v0.11.0 deploy on prod hit this exact window after the v0.10.0 release.
+
+---
+
 ## [0.10.0] - 2026-05-14
 
 This release brings terra-view onto the SFM (Seismograph Field Module) event pipeline. Triggered events forwarded by series3-watcher now land in SFM, and terra-view reads from that store as the authoritative source for vibration data. The watcher heartbeat is preserved as a transparent fallback signal.

README.md

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Terra-View v0.10.0
+# Terra-View v0.11.0
 Backend API and HTMX-powered web interface for managing a mixed fleet of seismographs and field modems. Track deployments, monitor health in real time, merge roster intent with incoming telemetry, and control your fleet through a unified database and dashboard.
 
 ## Features
@@ -496,6 +496,19 @@ docker compose down -v
 
 ## Release Highlights
 
+### v0.11.0 — 2026-05-15
+- **Soft-Remove Monitoring Locations**: Mark a location as no longer actively monitored without destroying history. Closes active unit assignments and cancels pending scheduled actions; historical events stay attributed. Restore brings it back. Surfaces as a Removed Locations collapsed section on the project page.
+- **Per-Unit Deployment Gantt**: Visual timeline above the deployment history list on each unit detail page. Color-coded bars per location, today marker, mergeable-group dashed underlines, click a bar to scroll its detail row into view.
+- **Merge Consecutive Deployments**: Auto-detects runs of same-location assignments within a 7-day gap and offers a one-click "Merge into one" button. Preserves notes, ingest source, and writes an `assignment_merged` audit entry.
+- **Delete Assignment for Mis-Clicks**: Trash icon on each row of the location's Deployment History panel. Hard-deletes the assignment with a safety check that refuses if real MonitoringSessions sit inside the window (those should go through Unassign instead).
+- **Drag-to-Reorder Location Cards**: Six-dot drag handle on each card; drop order persists via a new `/locations/reorder` endpoint. Removed locations stay sorted by removal date (their order is historical).
+- **Three-Dot Kebab Menu**: Replaces the inline Unassign / Edit / Remove / Delete pill row with a single ⋮ menu. Much cleaner card layout, especially for projects with many locations.
+- **Event Count on Vibration Cards**: Vibration locations now show "{N} events" instead of "Sessions: 0" (sessions don't exist under the watcher-forward pipeline). Sound locations are unchanged.
+- **Project Location Map**: Right column of the project overview is now a Leaflet map with a pin per location. Click pin → scrolls + flashes the matching card. Replaces the lightly-used Upcoming Actions panel (still discoverable via a link to the Schedules tab when actions exist).
+- **Stricter Location Fuzzy Matching**: Metadata-backfill no longer suggests obviously-wrong matches. WRatio was over-confident on location names ("Area 2 - Brookville Dam - Loc 2" vs "Area 1 - Loc 1 - 87 Jenks" used to score 86%); now uses `token_set_ratio` + a multi-digit penalty so disjoint address numbers correctly demote the score.
+- **Fixed: Multiple typeahead dropdowns weren't clickable**: Same JSON.stringify quote-collision bug surfaced in three places (location Remove button, backfill typeahead, project-merge dropdown). All three fixed by switching to `data-*` attributes + trampoline functions.
+- **Fixed: Merge-project modal had to be scrolled to see options**: Modal body's `flex-1 overflow-y-auto` collapsed too tight; added `min-height` so the dropdown has room to render below the input.
+
 ### v0.10.0 — 2026-05-14
 - **SFM Integration**: terra-view now consumes events from the SFM (Seismograph Field Module) backend in real time, with a fleet-wide events page at `/sfm`, per-unit attribution against project assignment windows, and a project-level vibration roll-up that uses SFM data as the single source of truth.
 - **SFM-Primary Seismograph Status**: Deployed seismograph status (OK/Pending/Missing) now flows from SFM event forwards first; the watcher heartbeat stays as a transparent backup. Each unit's active table row shows a small `SFM` or `HB` badge so operators can see at a glance which signal is currently driving the status.
@@ -612,9 +625,11 @@ MIT
 
 ## Version
 
-**Current: 0.10.0** — SFM integration, SFM-primary seismograph status, dashboard rework, sortable events tables, event detail modal, /admin/sfm + /admin/slmm diagnostic pages, Tools workflow hub (2026-05-14)
+**Current: 0.11.0** — Soft-remove locations, per-unit Gantt, merge/delete assignments, drag-to-reorder, three-dot kebab menu, event count on vibration cards, project location map, stricter backfill fuzzy match, modal/typeahead bug fixes (2026-05-15)
 
-Previous: 0.9.4 — Modular project types, deleted project management, swap modal search, roster auto-refresh fix (2026-04-06)
+Previous: 0.10.0 — SFM integration, SFM-primary seismograph status, dashboard rework, sortable events tables, event detail modal, /admin/sfm + /admin/slmm diagnostic pages, Tools workflow hub (2026-05-14)
+
+0.9.4 — Modular project types, deleted project management, swap modal search, roster auto-refresh fix (2026-04-06)
 
 0.9.3 — Monitoring session detail page, configurable period windows, vibration project redesign, modem assignment on locations (2026-03-28)
 

backend/main.py

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ Base.metadata.create_all(bind=engine)
 ENVIRONMENT = os.getenv("ENVIRONMENT", "production")
 
 # Initialize FastAPI app
-VERSION = "0.10.0"
+VERSION = "0.11.0"
 if ENVIRONMENT == "development":
     _build = os.getenv("BUILD_NUMBER", "0")
     if _build and _build != "0":

backend/migrate_add_location_removed.py

@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+"""
+Migration: add `removed_at` + `removal_reason` columns to `monitoring_locations`.
+
+Lets operators mark a location as no longer actively monitored without
+deleting it (so historical events stay attributed correctly).  Mirrors
+the timestamp-based "closed state" pattern already used by
+`unit_assignments.assigned_until`.
+
+Behavior:
+  - `removed_at IS NULL`  → location is active (default for all existing
+                            rows after this migration)
+  - `removed_at` set      → location is removed; historical events still
+                            attribute to it but it's hidden from active
+                            surfaces (assign dropdowns, calendar, etc.)
+  - `removal_reason`      → optional operator note (e.g. "client dropped
+                            from scope")
+
+Idempotent — safe to re-run.  Non-destructive — adds only.
+
+Run with:
+  docker exec terra-view-terra-view-1 python3 /app/backend/migrate_add_location_removed.py
+"""
+
+import os
+import sqlite3
+
+DB_PATH = "./data/seismo_fleet.db"
+
+
+def _has_column(cur: sqlite3.Cursor, table: str, column: str) -> bool:
+    cur.execute(f"PRAGMA table_info({table})")
+    return any(row[1] == column for row in cur.fetchall())
+
+
+def migrate_database() -> None:
+    if not os.path.exists(DB_PATH):
+        print(f"Database not found at {DB_PATH}")
+        return
+
+    conn = sqlite3.connect(DB_PATH)
+    cur  = conn.cursor()
+
+    added = []
+    if not _has_column(cur, "monitoring_locations", "removed_at"):
+        cur.execute("ALTER TABLE monitoring_locations ADD COLUMN removed_at DATETIME")
+        added.append("removed_at")
+    if not _has_column(cur, "monitoring_locations", "removal_reason"):
+        cur.execute("ALTER TABLE monitoring_locations ADD COLUMN removal_reason TEXT")
+        added.append("removal_reason")
+
+    conn.commit()
+    conn.close()
+
+    if added:
+        print(f"  Added columns to monitoring_locations: {', '.join(added)}")
+    else:
+        print("  monitoring_locations already has removed_at + removal_reason — nothing to do.")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    print("Running migration: add removed_at + removal_reason to monitoring_locations")
+    migrate_database()
+    print("Done.")

backend/migrate_add_location_sort_order.py

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+"""
+Migration: add `sort_order` column to `monitoring_locations` and seed
+existing rows.
+
+Lets operators reorder location cards via drag-and-drop on the project
+detail page.  Lower sort_order renders first; ties fall back to name.
+
+Seed strategy: for each existing project, assign sort_order = 0, 1, 2, …
+to its locations in their current alphabetical-by-name order.  After
+this migration, the visible card order on every existing project will
+be unchanged.
+
+Idempotent — safe to re-run.  Non-destructive — adds only.
+
+Run with:
+  docker exec terra-view-terra-view-1 python3 /app/backend/migrate_add_location_sort_order.py
+"""
+
+import os
+import sqlite3
+
+DB_PATH = "./data/seismo_fleet.db"
+
+
+def _has_column(cur: sqlite3.Cursor, table: str, column: str) -> bool:
+    cur.execute(f"PRAGMA table_info({table})")
+    return any(row[1] == column for row in cur.fetchall())
+
+
+def migrate_database() -> None:
+    if not os.path.exists(DB_PATH):
+        print(f"Database not found at {DB_PATH}")
+        return
+
+    conn = sqlite3.connect(DB_PATH)
+    cur  = conn.cursor()
+
+    added_column = False
+    if not _has_column(cur, "monitoring_locations", "sort_order"):
+        cur.execute("ALTER TABLE monitoring_locations ADD COLUMN sort_order INTEGER DEFAULT 0")
+        added_column = True
+        print("  Added column: monitoring_locations.sort_order")
+
+    # Seed: for each project, set sort_order to its alphabetical index.
+    # Re-runs are harmless — operator-edited orderings can be re-seeded by
+    # passing FORCE_RESEED=1, but the default behavior leaves existing
+    # nonzero sort_order values alone so we don't clobber user choices.
+    force_reseed = os.environ.get("FORCE_RESEED") == "1"
+    if added_column or force_reseed:
+        cur.execute("SELECT DISTINCT project_id FROM monitoring_locations")
+        projects = [r[0] for r in cur.fetchall()]
+        seeded = 0
+        for project_id in projects:
+            cur.execute(
+                "SELECT id FROM monitoring_locations WHERE project_id = ? ORDER BY name",
+                (project_id,),
+            )
+            for idx, (loc_id,) in enumerate(cur.fetchall()):
+                cur.execute(
+                    "UPDATE monitoring_locations SET sort_order = ? WHERE id = ?",
+                    (idx, loc_id),
+                )
+                seeded += 1
+        print(f"  Seeded sort_order for {seeded} location(s) across {len(projects)} project(s).")
+    else:
+        print("  monitoring_locations.sort_order already present — leaving existing values alone.")
+        print("  (Set FORCE_RESEED=1 to re-seed by alphabetical order.)")
+
+    conn.commit()
+    conn.close()
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    print("Running migration: add sort_order to monitoring_locations")
+    migrate_database()
+    print("Done.")

backend/models.py

@@ -235,6 +235,20 @@ class MonitoringLocation(Base):
     # For vibration: {"ground_type": "bedrock", "depth": "10m"}
     location_metadata = Column(Text, nullable=True)
 
+    # Soft-removal: NULL means active.  When set, the location is hidden from
+    # active surfaces (assign dropdowns, calendar, scheduler, dashboard
+    # vibration summary) but historical events generated before this time
+    # still attribute to it.  Mirrors the closed-state pattern used by
+    # UnitAssignment.assigned_until.
+    removed_at     = Column(DateTime, nullable=True)
+    removal_reason = Column(Text, nullable=True)
+
+    # Display order within the project's location list.  Operators can
+    # drag-and-drop to reorder cards on the project detail page.  Lower
+    # values render first; ties fall back to name (alphabetical).  Seeded
+    # to alphabetical-index on migration; new locations get max+1.
+    sort_order = Column(Integer, default=0, nullable=False)
+
     created_at = Column(DateTime, default=datetime.utcnow)
     updated_at = Column(DateTime, default=datetime.utcnow, onupdate=datetime.utcnow)
 

backend/routers/metadata_backfill.py

@@ -361,6 +361,9 @@ def locations_search(
         db.query(MonitoringLocation)
         .filter(MonitoringLocation.project_id == project_id)
         .filter(MonitoringLocation.location_type == "vibration")
+        # Don't propose creating assignments at removed locations — they
+        # were intentionally decommissioned and shouldn't be backfill targets.
+        .filter(MonitoringLocation.removed_at == None)   # noqa: E711
         .all()
     )
 
@@ -373,7 +376,11 @@ def locations_search(
         if q_norm in l_norm:
             scored.append((l, 1.0))
             continue
-        score = svc.similarity(q_norm, l_norm)
+        # Use the location-specific scorer (token_set_ratio + multi-digit
+        # penalty) instead of WRatio — same reason as the cluster-match
+        # path: location names share too much boilerplate vocabulary for
+        # WRatio to discriminate reliably.
+        score = svc.location_similarity(q_norm, l_norm)
         if score >= 0.50:
             scored.append((l, score))
 

backend/routers/project_locations.py

@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ from backend.models import (
     MonitoringSession,
     DataFile,
     UnitHistory,
+    ScheduledAction,
 )
 from backend.templates_config import templates
 from backend.utils.timezone import local_to_utc
@@ -138,7 +139,7 @@ async def get_project_locations(
 ):
     """
     Get all monitoring locations for a project.
-    Returns HTML partial with location list.
+    Returns HTML partial with location list, split into active + removed.
     """
     project = db.query(Project).filter_by(id=project_id).first()
     if not project:
@@ -150,12 +151,35 @@ async def get_project_locations(
     if location_type:
         query = query.filter_by(location_type=location_type)
 
-    locations = query.order_by(MonitoringLocation.name).all()
+    # Order by operator-set sort_order, then name as a stable tie-breaker.
+    locations = query.order_by(MonitoringLocation.sort_order, MonitoringLocation.name).all()
 
-    # Enrich with assignment info
-    locations_data = []
+    # For vibration locations, fan out event counts via SFM concurrently
+    # so the card layout can show "{N} events" instead of "Sessions: 0"
+    # (sessions don't really exist for the watcher-forward pipeline).
+    # Sound locations skip this and keep showing session counts.
+    event_counts: dict[str, int] = {}
+    vibration_locations = [l for l in locations if l.location_type == "vibration"]
+    if vibration_locations:
+        import asyncio
+        from backend.services.sfm_events import events_for_location
+        results = await asyncio.gather(
+            *(events_for_location(db, l.id, limit=1) for l in vibration_locations),
+            return_exceptions=True,
+        )
+        for loc, res in zip(vibration_locations, results):
+            if isinstance(res, Exception):
+                continue   # leave event_counts[loc.id] unset → template falls back
+            event_counts[loc.id] = (res.get("stats") or {}).get("event_count", 0) or 0
+
+    # Enrich with assignment info, splitting active vs removed.
+    active_data:  list = []
+    removed_data: list = []
     for location in locations:
-        # Get active assignment (active = assigned_until IS NULL)
+        # Get active assignment (active = assigned_until IS NULL).  For
+        # removed locations this will normally be None because the
+        # /remove cascade closes them, but check anyway for resilience
+        # against legacy data.
         assignment = db.query(UnitAssignment).filter(
             and_(
                 UnitAssignment.location_id == location.id,
@@ -172,17 +196,25 @@ async def get_project_locations(
             location_id=location.id
         ).count()
 
-        locations_data.append({
+        item = {
             "location":      location,
             "assignment":    assignment,
             "assigned_unit": assigned_unit,
             "session_count": session_count,
-        })
+        }
+        if location.id in event_counts:
+            item["event_count"] = event_counts[location.id]
+        if location.removed_at is None:
+            active_data.append(item)
+        else:
+            removed_data.append(item)
 
     return templates.TemplateResponse("partials/projects/location_list.html", {
         "request":            request,
         "project":            project,
-        "locations": locations_data,
+        "locations":          active_data,           # back-compat alias
+        "active_locations":   active_data,
+        "removed_locations":  removed_data,
     })
 
 
@@ -191,10 +223,15 @@ async def get_project_locations_json(
     project_id: str,
     db: Session = Depends(get_db),
     location_type: Optional[str] = Query(None),
+    include_removed: bool = Query(False),
 ):
     """
     Get all monitoring locations for a project as JSON.
     Used by the schedule modal to populate location dropdown.
+
+    Removed locations are filtered out by default (you can't schedule
+    a new action at a removed location).  Pass `include_removed=true`
+    to get them too — useful for historical / reporting views.
     """
     project = db.query(Project).filter_by(id=project_id).first()
     if not project:
@@ -205,7 +242,10 @@ async def get_project_locations_json(
     if location_type:
         query = query.filter_by(location_type=location_type)
 
-    locations = query.order_by(MonitoringLocation.name).all()
+    if not include_removed:
+        query = query.filter(MonitoringLocation.removed_at == None)   # noqa: E711
+
+    locations = query.order_by(MonitoringLocation.sort_order, MonitoringLocation.name).all()
 
     return [
         {
@@ -215,6 +255,8 @@ async def get_project_locations_json(
             "description":    loc.description,
             "address":        loc.address,
             "coordinates":    loc.coordinates,
+            "removed_at":     loc.removed_at.isoformat() if loc.removed_at else None,
+            "removal_reason": loc.removal_reason,
         }
         for loc in locations
     ]
@@ -235,6 +277,13 @@ async def create_location(
 
     form_data = await request.form()
 
+    # Compute next sort_order so new locations land at the END of the
+    # project's list rather than getting interleaved alphabetically.
+    from sqlalchemy import func
+    max_sort = db.query(func.max(MonitoringLocation.sort_order))\
+        .filter_by(project_id=project_id).scalar()
+    next_sort_order = (max_sort or 0) + 1 if max_sort is not None else 0
+
     location = MonitoringLocation(
         id=str(uuid.uuid4()),
         project_id=project_id,
@@ -244,6 +293,7 @@ async def create_location(
         coordinates=form_data.get("coordinates"),
         address=form_data.get("address"),
         location_metadata=form_data.get("location_metadata"),  # JSON string
+        sort_order=next_sort_order,
     )
 
     db.add(location)
@@ -335,6 +385,216 @@ async def delete_location(
     return {"success": True, "message": "Location deleted successfully"}
 
 
+@router.post("/locations/reorder")
+async def reorder_locations(
+    project_id: str,
+    request: Request,
+    db: Session = Depends(get_db),
+):
+    """
+    Persist a new sort order for a project's monitoring locations.
+
+    Body JSON: { "location_ids": [uuid, uuid, ...] }
+        The list MUST contain location ids in the desired display order.
+        Locations not included in the list keep their current sort_order
+        (useful for the "active locations only — leave removed alone"
+        drag-and-drop UX).
+
+    Updates `sort_order` to the index of each id in the list.  Ties
+    between included and excluded locations fall back to the existing
+    sort_order.
+    """
+    try:
+        payload = await request.json()
+    except Exception:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail="Invalid JSON body")
+
+    ids = payload.get("location_ids") or []
+    if not isinstance(ids, list) or len(ids) == 0:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail="location_ids must be a non-empty list")
+
+    # Fetch only the locations being reordered and validate ownership.
+    locations = db.query(MonitoringLocation).filter(
+        MonitoringLocation.project_id == project_id,
+        MonitoringLocation.id.in_(ids),
+    ).all()
+
+    found_ids = {l.id for l in locations}
+    missing = [i for i in ids if i not in found_ids]
+    if missing:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=404,
+            detail=f"Some locations not found in this project: {missing[:3]}…",
+        )
+
+    # Apply 0-indexed sort_order matching the operator's chosen order.
+    by_id = {l.id: l for l in locations}
+    for idx, loc_id in enumerate(ids):
+        by_id[loc_id].sort_order = idx
+
+    db.commit()
+    return {"success": True, "reordered": len(ids)}
+
+
+@router.post("/locations/{location_id}/remove")
+async def remove_location(
+    project_id: str,
+    location_id: str,
+    request: Request,
+    db: Session = Depends(get_db),
+):
+    """
+    Soft-remove a monitoring location — mark it as no longer actively
+    monitored without destroying it.
+
+    Use case: a client drops a location from scope mid-project, but the
+    historical events recorded there should remain attributed.  Deleting
+    would orphan those events; this preserves them.
+
+    Cascading side-effects:
+      1. All active UnitAssignment rows at this location are closed
+         (assigned_until = effective_date, status = "completed").
+         Units become available for other deployments.
+      2. All pending ScheduledAction rows at this location are cancelled
+         (execution_status = "cancelled").
+      3. Historical events stay attributed (attribution is window-based;
+         events with timestamp < effective_date still match the
+         now-closed assignment windows).
+
+    Accepts JSON body:
+      - effective_date: ISO datetime (optional, defaults to now)
+      - reason:         operator note (optional)
+    """
+    location = db.query(MonitoringLocation).filter_by(
+        id=location_id,
+        project_id=project_id,
+    ).first()
+
+    if not location:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="Location not found")
+
+    if location.removed_at is not None:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=400,
+            detail=f"Location is already removed (as of {location.removed_at.isoformat()}).",
+        )
+
+    # Body is optional — POST with no body is fine and means "remove now,
+    # no reason given."
+    try:
+        payload = await request.json()
+    except Exception:
+        payload = {}
+
+    # Effective date: accept "YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM" from datetime-local inputs or
+    # full ISO.  Defaults to now if absent/empty.
+    raw_eff = payload.get("effective_date")
+    if raw_eff:
+        try:
+            effective_date = datetime.fromisoformat(raw_eff)
+        except (TypeError, ValueError):
+            raise HTTPException(
+                status_code=400,
+                detail=f"Invalid effective_date: {raw_eff!r}",
+            )
+    else:
+        effective_date = datetime.utcnow()
+
+    reason = (payload.get("reason") or "").strip() or None
+
+    # 1. Close active assignments at this location.
+    active_assignments = db.query(UnitAssignment).filter(
+        and_(
+            UnitAssignment.location_id == location_id,
+            UnitAssignment.assigned_until == None,    # noqa: E711 — SQL NULL
+        )
+    ).all()
+
+    for a in active_assignments:
+        a.status         = "completed"
+        a.assigned_until = effective_date
+        _record_assignment_history(
+            db,
+            unit_id=a.unit_id,
+            change_type="assignment_ended",
+            old_value=location.name,
+            new_value="location removed",
+            notes=f"Location '{location.name}' marked as removed"
+                  + (f" — {reason}" if reason else ""),
+        )
+
+    # 2. Cancel pending scheduled actions at this location.
+    pending_actions = db.query(ScheduledAction).filter(
+        and_(
+            ScheduledAction.location_id == location_id,
+            ScheduledAction.execution_status == "pending",
+            ScheduledAction.scheduled_time >= effective_date,
+        )
+    ).all()
+
+    for sa in pending_actions:
+        sa.execution_status = "cancelled"
+        sa.error_message = (
+            f"Cancelled: location '{location.name}' marked as removed"
+            + (f" — {reason}" if reason else "")
+        )
+
+    # 3. Mark the location itself as removed.
+    location.removed_at     = effective_date
+    location.removal_reason = reason
+    location.updated_at     = datetime.utcnow()
+
+    db.commit()
+
+    return {
+        "success":               True,
+        "message":               f"Location '{location.name}' marked as removed",
+        "effective_date":        effective_date.isoformat(),
+        "assignments_closed":    len(active_assignments),
+        "actions_cancelled":     len(pending_actions),
+    }
+
+
+@router.post("/locations/{location_id}/restore")
+async def restore_location(
+    project_id: str,
+    location_id: str,
+    db: Session = Depends(get_db),
+):
+    """
+    Restore a previously-removed monitoring location to active.
+
+    Clears `removed_at` and `removal_reason`.  Does NOT automatically
+    re-open the assignments or scheduled actions that were closed when
+    the location was removed — those stay closed and the operator can
+    create new ones if they want to resume monitoring.
+    """
+    location = db.query(MonitoringLocation).filter_by(
+        id=location_id,
+        project_id=project_id,
+    ).first()
+
+    if not location:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="Location not found")
+
+    if location.removed_at is None:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=400,
+            detail="Location is already active.",
+        )
+
+    location.removed_at     = None
+    location.removal_reason = None
+    location.updated_at     = datetime.utcnow()
+
+    db.commit()
+
+    return {
+        "success": True,
+        "message": f"Location '{location.name}' restored to active",
+    }
+
+
 # ============================================================================
 # Unit Assignments
 # ============================================================================
@@ -650,6 +910,228 @@ async def update_assignment(
     }
 
 
+@router.delete("/assignments/{assignment_id}")
+async def delete_assignment(
+    project_id: str,
+    assignment_id: str,
+    db: Session = Depends(get_db),
+):
+    """
+    Hard-delete an assignment record.
+
+    Use case: operator clicked Assign by mistake (or 8 times in a row) and
+    wants the bogus records gone — not just closed with an `assigned_until`
+    timestamp.  The standard close-via-unassign path is for legitimate
+    deployments that ended; this is for mis-clicks that never actually
+    happened.
+
+    Safety:
+      - Refuses if any MonitoringSession exists for the same (unit, location)
+        within this assignment's window — that suggests the deployment was
+        real, and the operator should use unassign instead.
+      - Refuses if the assignment is the ONLY active assignment for a unit
+        currently shown as deployed AND a recording session is in progress.
+
+    Audit:
+      - Records UnitHistory `assignment_deleted` so the unit's deployment
+        timeline shows the deletion happened (even though the row itself
+        is gone).
+    """
+    assignment = db.query(UnitAssignment).filter_by(
+        id=assignment_id,
+        project_id=project_id,
+    ).first()
+
+    if not assignment:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="Assignment not found")
+
+    # Safety: is there a real recording history for this (unit, location)
+    # within the assignment's time window?  If so, this isn't a mis-click —
+    # the operator should close it via unassign, not delete it.
+    window_start = assignment.assigned_at
+    window_end   = assignment.assigned_until or datetime.utcnow()
+    real_sessions = db.query(MonitoringSession).filter(
+        and_(
+            MonitoringSession.location_id == assignment.location_id,
+            MonitoringSession.unit_id == assignment.unit_id,
+            MonitoringSession.started_at >= window_start,
+            MonitoringSession.started_at <= window_end,
+        )
+    ).count()
+
+    if real_sessions > 0:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=400,
+            detail=(
+                f"Cannot delete this assignment — {real_sessions} monitoring "
+                f"session(s) were recorded under it.  Use Unassign to close "
+                f"the window instead, which preserves the audit trail."
+            ),
+        )
+
+    # Resolve location name for audit log before deletion.
+    location = db.query(MonitoringLocation).filter_by(
+        id=assignment.location_id
+    ).first()
+    location_label = location.name if location else assignment.location_id
+
+    _record_assignment_history(
+        db,
+        unit_id=assignment.unit_id,
+        change_type="assignment_deleted",
+        old_value=f"{location_label} ({assignment.assigned_at:%Y-%m-%d} → "
+                  f"{assignment.assigned_until and assignment.assigned_until.strftime('%Y-%m-%d') or 'active'})",
+        new_value="deleted",
+        notes=(
+            "Assignment row removed — created in error or accidental duplicate."
+        ),
+    )
+
+    db.delete(assignment)
+    db.commit()
+
+    return {
+        "success": True,
+        "message": "Assignment deleted.",
+    }
+
+
+@router.post("/assignments/merge")
+async def merge_assignments(
+    project_id: str,
+    request: Request,
+    db: Session = Depends(get_db),
+):
+    """
+    Merge multiple consecutive UnitAssignment rows for the same (unit, location)
+    into a single record spanning their combined window.
+
+    Use case: a unit's deployment timeline shows 3 stacked rows for the
+    same location because the assignment was closed-and-reopened (e.g. via
+    location remove + restore) or because metadata-backfill auto-created
+    a retroactive window adjacent to a manual one.  Operator sees three
+    rows but they represent one continuous deployment.
+
+    Body JSON:
+        { "assignment_ids": ["<uuid>", "<uuid>", ...] }
+
+    Validation:
+      - All assignments must belong to project_id
+      - All must share the same unit_id AND location_id
+      - At least 2 ids must be provided
+
+    Merge rules:
+      - Keeps the EARLIEST-starting assignment as the surviving row
+      - assigned_at  = min(assigned_at across all)
+      - assigned_until = max(assigned_until), or NULL if any input was active
+      - status = "active" if any input was active, else "completed"
+      - source = source of the earliest record (preserves original ingest provenance)
+      - notes = earliest's notes + "Merged N records (<sources>)"
+      - Other records are DELETED
+      - One UnitHistory `assignment_merged` row is written for audit
+
+    No tolerance check — the operator is asking for the merge, so we trust
+    the intent.  The UI can pre-filter to only offer "consecutive" merges
+    if it wants.
+    """
+    try:
+        payload = await request.json()
+    except Exception:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail="Invalid JSON body")
+
+    ids = payload.get("assignment_ids") or []
+    if not isinstance(ids, list) or len(ids) < 2:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=400,
+            detail="Need at least 2 assignment_ids to merge.",
+        )
+
+    assignments = (
+        db.query(UnitAssignment)
+        .filter(UnitAssignment.project_id == project_id)
+        .filter(UnitAssignment.id.in_(ids))
+        .all()
+    )
+
+    if len(assignments) != len(set(ids)):
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=404,
+            detail=f"Some assignments not found (got {len(assignments)} of {len(set(ids))}).",
+        )
+
+    unit_ids = {a.unit_id for a in assignments}
+    loc_ids  = {a.location_id for a in assignments}
+    if len(unit_ids) > 1 or len(loc_ids) > 1:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=400,
+            detail="Can only merge assignments that share the same unit and location.",
+        )
+
+    # Order chronologically.
+    assignments.sort(key=lambda a: a.assigned_at)
+    earliest = assignments[0]
+    others   = assignments[1:]
+
+    # Compute merged window.
+    any_active = any(a.assigned_until is None for a in assignments)
+    if any_active:
+        merged_until = None
+    else:
+        merged_until = max(a.assigned_until for a in assignments)
+
+    # Build a brief audit-style note describing what got merged.
+    bits = []
+    for a in assignments:
+        win = (
+            f"{a.assigned_at:%Y-%m-%d}"
+            f"→{(a.assigned_until and a.assigned_until.strftime('%Y-%m-%d')) or 'active'}"
+        )
+        bits.append(f"{win} [{a.source}]")
+    merge_note_suffix = f"Merged {len(assignments)} records: " + " + ".join(bits)
+    new_notes = (earliest.notes + "  •  " + merge_note_suffix) if earliest.notes else merge_note_suffix
+
+    # Resolve names for the audit log before mutating.
+    location = db.query(MonitoringLocation).filter_by(id=earliest.location_id).first()
+    location_label = location.name if location else earliest.location_id
+
+    # Mutate the survivor.
+    earliest.assigned_at    = min(a.assigned_at for a in assignments)
+    earliest.assigned_until = merged_until
+    earliest.status         = "active" if any_active else "completed"
+    earliest.notes          = new_notes
+
+    # Delete the rest.
+    deleted_ids = [a.id for a in others]
+    for a in others:
+        db.delete(a)
+
+    _record_assignment_history(
+        db,
+        unit_id=earliest.unit_id,
+        change_type="assignment_merged",
+        old_value=f"{len(assignments)} rows at {location_label}",
+        new_value=(
+            f"1 row {earliest.assigned_at:%Y-%m-%d}"
+            f"→{(merged_until and merged_until.strftime('%Y-%m-%d')) or 'active'}"
+        ),
+        notes=merge_note_suffix,
+    )
+
+    db.commit()
+    db.refresh(earliest)
+
+    return {
+        "success":         True,
+        "message":         f"Merged {len(assignments)} assignments into one.",
+        "kept_id":         earliest.id,
+        "deleted_ids":     deleted_ids,
+        "merged_window": {
+            "assigned_at":    earliest.assigned_at.isoformat(),
+            "assigned_until": earliest.assigned_until.isoformat() if earliest.assigned_until else None,
+        },
+    }
+
+
 @router.post("/locations/{location_id}/swap")
 async def swap_unit_on_location(
     project_id: str,

backend/services/deployment_timeline.py

@@ -46,6 +46,13 @@ log = logging.getLogger("backend.services.deployment_timeline")
 # clutter from a sub-second handoff during a swap workflow.
 _MIN_GAP_SECONDS = 24 * 3600  # 1 day
 
+# When detecting "mergeable" groups of consecutive same-location assignments,
+# treat assignments separated by no more than this many seconds as adjacent.
+# Generous enough to catch overnight handoffs and weekend gaps where the
+# operator forgot to log, but tight enough that genuinely separate
+# deployments months apart don't get suggested for merging.
+_MERGE_GAP_TOLERANCE_SECONDS = 7 * 24 * 3600   # 7 days
+
 # Per-call timeout when querying SFM for the event overlay.
 _SFM_TIMEOUT = 10.0
 _SFM_FETCH_CEILING = 5000
@@ -245,7 +252,32 @@ async def deployment_timeline_for_unit(
             "history_notes": h.notes,
         })
 
-    # 6. Sort newest first.  Active assignments (no end) sort by start time,
+    # 6. Detect mergeable groups — runs of consecutive assignments to the
+    #    same location with small gaps between them.  Each group becomes a
+    #    list of assignment_ids; the UI offers a "Merge into one" action
+    #    on any group >= 2.
+    merge_groups: list[list[str]] = []
+    if len(assignments) >= 2:
+        # Sort ascending for the linear scan.
+        sorted_assignments = sorted(assignments, key=lambda a: a.assigned_at)
+        cur_group: list[UnitAssignment] = [sorted_assignments[0]]
+        for a in sorted_assignments[1:]:
+            prev = cur_group[-1]
+            same_location = a.location_id == prev.location_id
+            prev_end = prev.assigned_until or now
+            gap_seconds = (a.assigned_at - prev_end).total_seconds() if a.assigned_at else 0
+            # Within tolerance and same location → extend the current group.
+            # Negative gaps (overlap) also count as adjacent.
+            if same_location and gap_seconds <= _MERGE_GAP_TOLERANCE_SECONDS:
+                cur_group.append(a)
+            else:
+                if len(cur_group) >= 2:
+                    merge_groups.append([x.id for x in cur_group])
+                cur_group = [a]
+        if len(cur_group) >= 2:
+            merge_groups.append([x.id for x in cur_group])
+
+    # 7. Sort newest first.  Active assignments (no end) sort by start time,
     #    same as everything else.
     entries.sort(key=lambda e: e.get("starts_at") or "", reverse=True)
 
@@ -253,4 +285,8 @@ async def deployment_timeline_for_unit(
         "unit_id":      unit.id,
         "device_type":  unit.device_type,
         "entries":      entries,
+        # List of assignment_id lists; each inner list is a mergeable group.
+        # Empty if nothing is mergeable.  UI shows a "Merge" button on any
+        # row whose assignment_id appears in a group.
+        "merge_groups": merge_groups,
     }

backend/services/metadata_backfill.py

@@ -162,6 +162,11 @@ def similarity(a: str, b: str) -> float:
     too short to fuzzy-match safely (see _MIN_FUZZY_LEN comment) AND the
     strings don't exact-match.  This guardrails the 'one common word
     inside a longer phrase' false positive.
+
+    USE FOR: project names (where typos like '1-80' vs 'I-80' should
+    still match).  For location names use `location_similarity()` —
+    WRatio is too lenient on the shared boilerplate vocabulary in
+    location strings ('Area', 'Loc', 'Bridge', 'Dam', etc.).
     """
     if not a or not b:
         return 0.0
@@ -172,6 +177,50 @@ def similarity(a: str, b: str) -> float:
     return rapidfuzz.fuzz.WRatio(a, b) / 100.0
 
 
+# Multi-digit penalty applied when two location names have completely
+# disjoint multi-digit numeric tokens (e.g. "87 Jenks" vs "68 Jenks").
+# Single-digit numbers ("Loc 1", "Area 2") are often shared coincidentally,
+# but address-style multi-digit numbers are strong identifiers — if they
+# differ, the locations are usually different physical places.
+_LOCATION_DIGIT_MISMATCH_PENALTY = 0.30
+
+
+def location_similarity(a: str, b: str) -> float:
+    """Stricter similarity score for location-name matching.
+
+    Location names share so much boilerplate vocabulary ('Area', 'Loc',
+    'Bridge', 'Dam') that rapidfuzz.WRatio inflates obvious mismatches.
+    Example: 'Area 2 - Brookville Dam - Loc 2 East' vs 'Area 1 - Loc 1 -
+    87 Jenks' scores 85.5 via WRatio despite being unrelated locations.
+
+    This scorer uses `token_set_ratio` as the base (sensitive to actual
+    word overlap, not just substring containment).  It then applies a
+    multi-digit penalty: if both strings contain 2+-digit numbers and
+    none overlap, subtract 0.30.  Catches the "same project, different
+    address-style identifier" case ('87 Jenks' vs '68 Jenks') that pure
+    token-set scoring still rates above 0.90.
+
+    Single-digit numbers ('Loc 1', 'Area 2') are excluded from the
+    penalty because they're often shared boilerplate ("Loc 1" in every
+    project) rather than discriminating identifiers.
+    """
+    if not a or not b:
+        return 0.0
+    if a == b:
+        return 1.0
+    if min(len(a), len(b)) < _MIN_FUZZY_LEN:
+        return 0.0
+
+    base = rapidfuzz.fuzz.token_set_ratio(a, b) / 100.0
+
+    multidigits_a = set(re.findall(r"\d{2,}", a))
+    multidigits_b = set(re.findall(r"\d{2,}", b))
+    if multidigits_a and multidigits_b and not (multidigits_a & multidigits_b):
+        base = max(0.0, base - _LOCATION_DIGIT_MISMATCH_PENALTY)
+
+    return base
+
+
 # ── Cluster + Suggestion dataclasses ───────────────────────────────────────────
 
 
@@ -572,15 +621,24 @@ async def _scan_clusters(
 def _find_best_match(
     candidate_norm: str,
     candidates: list[tuple[str, str]],   # (id, normalised_name)
+    *,
+    kind: str = "project",               # "project" | "location"
 ) -> tuple[Optional[str], Optional[float], str]:
     """Return (best_id, best_score, classification).
 
     classification ∈ {"exact", "fuzzy", "ambiguous", "no_match"}
+
+    The `kind` parameter selects the scorer.  Project matching uses
+    rapidfuzz.WRatio (lenient — catches typos like '1-80' vs 'I-80').
+    Location matching uses `location_similarity` (stricter — catches
+    boilerplate-shared-but-actually-different strings like 'Loc 2 - 68
+    Jenks' vs 'Loc 1 - 87 Jenks').
     """
     if not candidate_norm or not candidates:
         return None, None, "no_match"
 
-    scored = [(cid, similarity(candidate_norm, cnorm)) for cid, cnorm in candidates]
+    scorer = location_similarity if kind == "location" else similarity
+    scored = [(cid, scorer(candidate_norm, cnorm)) for cid, cnorm in candidates]
     scored.sort(key=lambda x: x[1], reverse=True)
     best_id, best_score = scored[0]
 
@@ -725,7 +783,7 @@ def _build_suggestion(db: Session, cluster: Cluster) -> Suggestion:
         )
         location_candidates = [(l.id, _normalise(l.name)) for l in location_candidates_objs]
         if cluster.location_norm:
-            loc_id, loc_score, loc_match = _find_best_match(cluster.location_norm, location_candidates)
+            loc_id, loc_score, loc_match = _find_best_match(cluster.location_norm, location_candidates, kind="location")
         else:
             loc_id, loc_score, loc_match = None, None, "create_new"
     else:

backend/services/sfm_events.py

@@ -321,6 +321,11 @@ async def events_for_unit(
             "assignment_id":      a.id,
             "location_id":        a.location_id,
             "location_name":      loc.name if loc else None,
+            # Soft-removal indicator so the UI can render a "(removed)"
+            # badge next to historical attributions whose location is no
+            # longer actively monitored.
+            "location_removed_at": (loc.removed_at.isoformat()
+                                    if loc and loc.removed_at else None),
             "project_id":         a.project_id,
             "project_name":       proj.name if proj else None,
             "assigned_at":        _iso_utc(a.assigned_at),
@@ -515,6 +520,10 @@ async def vibration_summary_for_project(
             "event_count":   ec,
             "peak_pvs":      ev_peak,
             "last_event":    ev_last,
+            # Soft-removal state — UI can show a "(removed)" badge in the
+            # per-location list so operators see at a glance that a row's
+            # numbers are historical-only.
+            "removed_at":    loc.removed_at.isoformat() if loc.removed_at else None,
         })
 
     per_location.sort(key=lambda r: r["event_count"], reverse=True)

templates/admin/metadata_backfill.html

@@ -275,7 +275,13 @@ async function _fetchTypeahead(input, fieldKind) {
         return;
     }
 
+    // Args go in data-* attributes (not inline onclick) to avoid the quote
+    // collision when location names contain characters JSON.stringify quotes
+    // (e.g. anything with spaces/punctuation — basically every real name).
+    // _esc() escapes for HTML attribute context (entities for <>&"), then
+    // the browser decodes them when reading the dataset value.
     dropdown.innerHTML = items.map((it, idx) => {
+        const cid = _esc(input.dataset.clusterId);
         if (it.kind === 'match') {
             const m = it.payload;
             const scoreBadge = m.score >= 0.99
@@ -291,16 +297,24 @@ async function _fetchTypeahead(input, fieldKind) {
             }
             const metaLine = meta.length ? `<div class="text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400">${meta.join(' · ')}</div>` : '';
             return `<button type="button"
+                data-cid="${cid}"
+                data-field-kind="${fieldKind}"
+                data-entity-id="${_esc(m.id)}"
+                data-entity-name="${_esc(m.name)}"
                 onmousedown="event.preventDefault()"
-                onclick="onTypeaheadPick(event, '${_esc(input.dataset.clusterId)}', '${fieldKind}', '${_esc(m.id)}', ${JSON.stringify(m.name)})"
+                onclick="_typeaheadPickFromButton(this)"
                 class="w-full text-left px-3 py-2 hover:bg-gray-50 dark:hover:bg-slate-700 border-b border-gray-100 dark:border-gray-700 last:border-b-0">
                 <div class="text-sm font-medium text-gray-900 dark:text-white">${_esc(m.name)}${scoreBadge}</div>
                 ${metaLine}
             </button>`;
         }
         return `<button type="button"
+            data-cid="${cid}"
+            data-field-kind="${fieldKind}"
+            data-entity-id=""
+            data-entity-name="${_esc(it.name)}"
             onmousedown="event.preventDefault()"
-            onclick="onTypeaheadPick(event, '${_esc(input.dataset.clusterId)}', '${fieldKind}', '', ${JSON.stringify(it.name)})"
+            onclick="_typeaheadPickFromButton(this)"
             class="w-full text-left px-3 py-2 hover:bg-orange-50 dark:hover:bg-orange-900/20 border-t border-gray-200 dark:border-gray-700 text-seismo-orange font-medium text-sm">
             + ${_esc(it.label)}
         </button>`;
@@ -308,6 +322,19 @@ async function _fetchTypeahead(input, fieldKind) {
     dropdown.classList.remove('hidden');
 }
 
+// Trampoline — reads the click target's data-* attributes and forwards
+// to onTypeaheadPick.  Keeps the inline onclick attribute free of any
+// string interpolation that could collide with HTML quoting.
+function _typeaheadPickFromButton(btn) {
+    onTypeaheadPick(
+        null,
+        btn.dataset.cid,
+        btn.dataset.fieldKind,
+        btn.dataset.entityId || '',
+        btn.dataset.entityName || ''
+    );
+}
+
 function onTypeaheadPick(event, clusterId, fieldKind, entityId, name) {
     // entityId is empty string for "create new", or a UUID for matched existing.
     const inputs = document.querySelectorAll(`input[data-cluster-id="${clusterId}"]`);

templates/partials/projects/location_list.html

@@ -1,16 +1,58 @@
-<!-- Project Locations List -->
-{% if locations %}
-    <div class="space-y-3">
-        {% for item in locations %}
-            <div class="border border-gray-200 dark:border-gray-700 rounded-lg p-4 hover:border-seismo-orange transition-colors">
+<!-- Project Locations List — Active + Removed sections.
+
+  Card layout:
+    [drag handle] [location info]                          [unit pill] [⋮ menu]
+                  (name link, description, address, sessions/events, coords)
+
+  Active cards are draggable to reorder.  Drop reorders the DOM
+  immediately and posts the new order to /api/projects/{p}/locations/reorder.
+
+  Removed cards are NOT reorderable (their order is historical) but
+  show a Restore button.
+
+  The three-dot menu replaces the inline Unassign/Edit/Remove/Delete
+  pill buttons.  Click ⋮ to open; click outside closes.
+-->
+
+{% if not active_locations and not removed_locations %}
+    <div class="text-center py-8 text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400">
+        <svg class="w-12 h-12 mx-auto mb-3 opacity-50" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 24 24">
+            <path stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" d="M20 13V6a2 2 0 00-2-2H6a2 2 0 00-2 2v7m16 0v5a2 2 0 01-2 2H6a2 2 0 01-2-2v-5m16 0h-2.586a1 1 0 00-.707.293l-2.414 2.414a1 1 0 01-.707.293h-3.172a1 1 0 01-.707-.293l-2.414-2.414A1 1 0 006.586 13H4"></path>
+        </svg>
+        <p>No locations added yet</p>
+    </div>
+{% else %}
+
+{# ─── Active locations (draggable) ─── #}
+{% if active_locations %}
+    <div class="space-y-3" id="active-locations-list" data-project-id="{{ project.id }}">
+        {% for item in active_locations %}
+            <div class="border border-gray-200 dark:border-gray-700 rounded-lg p-4 hover:border-seismo-orange transition-colors location-card"
+                 draggable="true"
+                 data-location-id="{{ item.location.id }}"
+                 data-location-type="{{ item.location.location_type or 'sound' }}"
+                 data-location-name="{{ item.location.name | e }}"
+                 data-coordinates="{{ item.location.coordinates or '' }}"
+                 ondragstart="onLocationDragStart(event)"
+                 ondragover="onLocationDragOver(event)"
+                 ondragleave="onLocationDragLeave(event)"
+                 ondrop="onLocationDrop(event)"
+                 ondragend="onLocationDragEnd(event)">
+
                 <div class="flex items-start justify-between gap-3">
+                    <!-- Drag handle + info -->
+                    <div class="flex items-start gap-3 min-w-0 flex-1">
+                        <div class="shrink-0 pt-0.5 text-gray-400 hover:text-gray-600 dark:hover:text-gray-300 cursor-grab active:cursor-grabbing select-none"
+                             title="Drag to reorder">
+                            <svg class="w-4 h-4" fill="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 20 20">
+                                <path d="M7 4a1 1 0 110 2 1 1 0 010-2zm6 0a1 1 0 110 2 1 1 0 010-2zM7 9a1 1 0 110 2 1 1 0 010-2zm6 0a1 1 0 110 2 1 1 0 010-2zM7 14a1 1 0 110 2 1 1 0 010-2zm6 0a1 1 0 110 2 1 1 0 010-2z"/>
+                            </svg>
+                        </div>
                         <div class="min-w-0 flex-1">
-                        <div class="flex items-center gap-2">
                             <a href="/projects/{{ project.id }}/nrl/{{ item.location.id }}"
                                class="font-semibold text-gray-900 dark:text-white hover:text-seismo-orange truncate">
                                 {{ item.location.name }}
                             </a>
-                        </div>
                             {% if item.location.description %}
                                 <p class="text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400 mt-1">{{ item.location.description }}</p>
                             {% endif %}
@@ -20,45 +62,241 @@
                             {% if item.location.coordinates %}
                                 <p class="text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400 mt-1">{{ item.location.coordinates }}</p>
                             {% endif %}
+
+                            <div class="mt-3 text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400 flex flex-wrap gap-4">
+                                {% if item.event_count is defined and item.location.location_type == 'vibration' %}
+                                    <span><strong class="text-gray-700 dark:text-gray-300">{{ "{:,}".format(item.event_count) }}</strong> event{{ '' if item.event_count == 1 else 's' }}</span>
+                                {% else %}
+                                    <span>Sessions: {{ item.session_count }}</span>
+                                {% endif %}
+                                {% if item.assignment and item.assigned_unit %}
+                                    <span>Assigned: <a href="/unit/{{ item.assigned_unit.id }}" class="text-seismo-orange hover:text-seismo-navy font-mono">{{ item.assigned_unit.id }}</a></span>
+                                {% else %}
+                                    <span class="italic text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-500">No active assignment</span>
+                                {% endif %}
+                            </div>
+                        </div>
                     </div>
 
-                    <div class="flex items-center gap-2">
-                        {% if item.assignment %}
-                            <button onclick="unassignUnit('{{ item.assignment.id }}')" class="text-xs px-3 py-1 rounded-full bg-amber-100 text-amber-800 dark:bg-amber-900/30 dark:text-amber-300">
-                                Unassign
-                            </button>
-                        {% else %}
-                            <button onclick="openAssignModal('{{ item.location.id }}', '{{ item.location.location_type or 'sound' }}')" class="text-xs px-3 py-1 rounded-full bg-seismo-orange text-white hover:bg-seismo-navy">
+                    <!-- Right column: small assign/unassign pill + 3-dot menu -->
+                    <div class="flex items-center gap-2 shrink-0">
+                        {% if not item.assignment %}
+                            <!-- Primary action: visible because the unassigned card
+                                 is most likely getting clicked on right after creation -->
+                            <button onclick="openAssignModal('{{ item.location.id }}', '{{ item.location.location_type or 'sound' }}')"
+                                    class="text-xs px-3 py-1 rounded-full bg-seismo-orange text-white hover:bg-seismo-navy">
                                 Assign
                             </button>
                         {% endif %}
+
+                        <!-- Three-dot kebab menu -->
+                        <div class="relative inline-block location-menu-wrapper">
+                            <button onclick="toggleLocationMenu(event, this)"
+                                    class="p-1.5 rounded-full text-gray-400 hover:text-gray-700 dark:hover:text-gray-200 hover:bg-gray-100 dark:hover:bg-gray-700"
+                                    title="More actions">
+                                <svg class="w-4 h-4" fill="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 20 20">
+                                    <path d="M10 6a2 2 0 110-4 2 2 0 010 4zm0 6a2 2 0 110-4 2 2 0 010 4zm0 6a2 2 0 110-4 2 2 0 010 4z"/>
+                                </svg>
+                            </button>
+
+                            <div class="location-menu hidden absolute right-0 mt-1 w-40 z-30 bg-white dark:bg-slate-800 border border-gray-200 dark:border-gray-700 rounded-lg shadow-lg py-1">
+                                {% if item.assignment %}
+                                    <button onclick="unassignUnit('{{ item.assignment.id }}'); closeAllLocationMenus()"
+                                            class="w-full text-left px-3 py-1.5 text-sm text-gray-700 dark:text-gray-300 hover:bg-gray-50 dark:hover:bg-gray-700">
+                                        Unassign
+                                    </button>
+                                {% endif %}
                                 <button data-location='{{ {"id": item.location.id, "name": item.location.name, "description": item.location.description, "address": item.location.address, "coordinates": item.location.coordinates, "location_type": item.location.location_type} | tojson }}'
-                                onclick="openEditLocationModal(this)"
-                                class="text-xs px-3 py-1 rounded-full bg-gray-100 text-gray-700 dark:bg-gray-800 dark:text-gray-300">
+                                        onclick="openEditLocationModal(this); closeAllLocationMenus()"
+                                        class="w-full text-left px-3 py-1.5 text-sm text-gray-700 dark:text-gray-300 hover:bg-gray-50 dark:hover:bg-gray-700">
                                     Edit
                                 </button>
-                        <button onclick="deleteLocation('{{ item.location.id }}')" class="text-xs px-3 py-1 rounded-full bg-red-100 text-red-700 dark:bg-red-900/30 dark:text-red-300">
+                                <button data-loc-id="{{ item.location.id }}"
+                                        data-loc-name="{{ item.location.name | e }}"
+                                        onclick="openRemoveLocationModal(this.dataset.locId, this.dataset.locName); closeAllLocationMenus()"
+                                        class="w-full text-left px-3 py-1.5 text-sm text-amber-700 dark:text-amber-300 hover:bg-amber-50 dark:hover:bg-amber-900/20"
+                                        title="Mark as no longer monitored — preserves events">
+                                    Remove
+                                </button>
+                                <div class="border-t border-gray-100 dark:border-gray-700 my-1"></div>
+                                <button onclick="deleteLocation('{{ item.location.id }}'); closeAllLocationMenus()"
+                                        class="w-full text-left px-3 py-1.5 text-sm text-red-600 dark:text-red-400 hover:bg-red-50 dark:hover:bg-red-900/20"
+                                        title="Permanently delete — only allowed if no history">
                                     Delete
                                 </button>
                             </div>
                         </div>
+                    </div>
+                </div>
+            </div>
+        {% endfor %}
+    </div>
+{% endif %}
+
+{# ─── Removed locations (collapsed by default) ─── #}
+{% if removed_locations %}
+    <details class="mt-6 group" {% if not active_locations %}open{% endif %}>
+        <summary class="cursor-pointer text-sm font-medium text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400 hover:text-gray-700 dark:hover:text-gray-300 select-none list-none">
+            <span class="inline-flex items-center gap-2">
+                <svg class="w-4 h-4 transition-transform group-open:rotate-90" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 24 24">
+                    <path stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" d="M9 5l7 7-7 7"/>
+                </svg>
+                Removed locations
+                <span class="text-xs px-1.5 py-0.5 rounded bg-gray-100 dark:bg-gray-700 text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400">{{ removed_locations | length }}</span>
+            </span>
+            <p class="ml-6 mt-1 text-xs text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-500">Historical only — events stay attributed, but no new assignments or schedules can be created here.</p>
+        </summary>
+
+        <div class="space-y-3 mt-3">
+            {% for item in removed_locations %}
+                <div class="border border-gray-200 dark:border-gray-700 rounded-lg p-4 bg-gray-50 dark:bg-slate-900/30 opacity-75">
+                    <div class="flex items-start justify-between gap-3">
+                        <div class="min-w-0 flex-1">
+                            <div class="flex items-center gap-2 flex-wrap">
+                                <a href="/projects/{{ project.id }}/nrl/{{ item.location.id }}"
+                                   class="font-semibold text-gray-700 dark:text-gray-300 hover:text-seismo-orange truncate">
+                                    {{ item.location.name }}
+                                </a>
+                                <span class="text-[10px] uppercase tracking-wider px-1.5 py-0.5 rounded bg-gray-200 dark:bg-gray-700 text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-300 font-semibold">
+                                    Removed
+                                </span>
+                                <span class="text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400">
+                                    {{ item.location.removed_at.strftime('%Y-%m-%d') if item.location.removed_at else '—' }}
+                                </span>
+                            </div>
+                            {% if item.location.removal_reason %}
+                                <p class="text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400 mt-1 italic">"{{ item.location.removal_reason }}"</p>
+                            {% endif %}
+                            {% if item.location.description %}
+                                <p class="text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400 mt-1">{{ item.location.description }}</p>
+                            {% endif %}
+                            {% if item.location.address %}
+                                <p class="text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400 mt-1">{{ item.location.address }}</p>
+                            {% endif %}
+                        </div>
+
+                        <div class="flex items-center gap-2">
+                            <button data-loc-id="{{ item.location.id }}"
+                                    data-loc-name="{{ item.location.name | e }}"
+                                    onclick="restoreLocation(this.dataset.locId, this.dataset.locName)"
+                                    class="text-xs px-3 py-1 rounded-full bg-green-100 text-green-700 dark:bg-green-900/30 dark:text-green-300 hover:bg-green-200"
+                                    title="Restore to active monitoring">
+                                Restore
+                            </button>
+                        </div>
+                    </div>
 
                     <div class="mt-3 text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400 flex flex-wrap gap-4">
-                    <span>Sessions: {{ item.session_count }}</span>
-                    {% if item.assignment and item.assigned_unit %}
-                        <span>Assigned: {{ item.assigned_unit.id }}</span>
+                        {% if item.event_count is defined and item.location.location_type == 'vibration' %}
+                            <span>{{ "{:,}".format(item.event_count) }} historical event{{ '' if item.event_count == 1 else 's' }}</span>
                         {% else %}
-                        <span>No active assignment</span>
+                            <span>Historical sessions: {{ item.session_count }}</span>
                         {% endif %}
                     </div>
                 </div>
             {% endfor %}
         </div>
-{% else %}
-    <div class="text-center py-8 text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400">
-        <svg class="w-12 h-12 mx-auto mb-3 opacity-50" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 24 24">
-            <path stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" d="M20 13V6a2 2 0 00-2-2H6a2 2 0 00-2 2v7m16 0v5a2 2 0 01-2 2H6a2 2 0 01-2-2v-5m16 0h-2.586a1 1 0 00-.707.293l-2.414 2.414a1 1 0 01-.707.293h-3.172a1 1 0 01-.707-.293l-2.414-2.414A1 1 0 006.586 13H4"></path>
-        </svg>
-        <p>No locations added yet</p>
-    </div>
+    </details>
 {% endif %}
+
+{% endif %}
+
+<!-- Drag-and-drop + menu handlers, scoped to this partial (re-defined
+     on every htmx swap, which is harmless — function declarations
+     overwrite). -->
+<script>
+let _dragSrcCard = null;
+
+function onLocationDragStart(e) {
+    _dragSrcCard = e.currentTarget;
+    e.dataTransfer.effectAllowed = 'move';
+    // Required for Firefox to start the drag.
+    e.dataTransfer.setData('text/plain', _dragSrcCard.dataset.locationId);
+    e.currentTarget.classList.add('opacity-40');
+}
+
+function onLocationDragOver(e) {
+    if (!_dragSrcCard || e.currentTarget === _dragSrcCard) return;
+    e.preventDefault();
+    e.dataTransfer.dropEffect = 'move';
+    e.currentTarget.classList.add('ring-2', 'ring-seismo-orange');
+}
+
+function onLocationDragLeave(e) {
+    e.currentTarget.classList.remove('ring-2', 'ring-seismo-orange');
+}
+
+function onLocationDrop(e) {
+    e.preventDefault();
+    e.currentTarget.classList.remove('ring-2', 'ring-seismo-orange');
+    if (!_dragSrcCard || e.currentTarget === _dragSrcCard) return;
+
+    const list = document.getElementById('active-locations-list');
+    if (!list) return;
+
+    // Drop AFTER the target by default; if mouse is in top half, drop BEFORE.
+    const rect = e.currentTarget.getBoundingClientRect();
+    const dropBefore = (e.clientY - rect.top) < rect.height / 2;
+    if (dropBefore) {
+        list.insertBefore(_dragSrcCard, e.currentTarget);
+    } else {
+        list.insertBefore(_dragSrcCard, e.currentTarget.nextSibling);
+    }
+
+    _persistLocationOrder(list);
+}
+
+function onLocationDragEnd(e) {
+    e.currentTarget.classList.remove('opacity-40');
+    document.querySelectorAll('.location-card').forEach(c => {
+        c.classList.remove('ring-2', 'ring-seismo-orange');
+    });
+    _dragSrcCard = null;
+}
+
+async function _persistLocationOrder(list) {
+    const projectId = list.dataset.projectId;
+    const ids = Array.from(list.querySelectorAll('.location-card'))
+        .map(c => c.dataset.locationId);
+    try {
+        const r = await fetch(`/api/projects/${projectId}/locations/reorder`, {
+            method:  'POST',
+            headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+            body:    JSON.stringify({ location_ids: ids }),
+        });
+        if (!r.ok) {
+            const err = await r.json().catch(() => ({ detail: 'HTTP ' + r.status }));
+            throw new Error(err.detail || 'reorder failed');
+        }
+    } catch (err) {
+        console.error('Failed to save new order:', err);
+        if (typeof showToast === 'function') showToast('Failed to save new order: ' + err.message, 'error');
+    }
+}
+
+// ── Three-dot menu ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
+function toggleLocationMenu(e, btn) {
+    e.stopPropagation();
+    const menu = btn.parentElement.querySelector('.location-menu');
+    const wasOpen = !menu.classList.contains('hidden');
+    closeAllLocationMenus();
+    if (!wasOpen) {
+        menu.classList.remove('hidden');
+    }
+}
+
+function closeAllLocationMenus() {
+    document.querySelectorAll('.location-menu').forEach(m => m.classList.add('hidden'));
+}
+
+// Close menus on outside click (only register once globally).
+if (!window._locationMenuOutsideClickRegistered) {
+    document.addEventListener('click', (e) => {
+        if (!e.target.closest('.location-menu-wrapper')) closeAllLocationMenus();
+    });
+    document.addEventListener('keydown', (e) => {
+        if (e.key === 'Escape') closeAllLocationMenus();
+    });
+    window._locationMenuOutsideClickRegistered = true;
+}
+</script>

templates/partials/projects/project_dashboard.html

@@ -78,22 +78,128 @@
         </div>
     </div>
 
-    <div class="bg-white dark:bg-slate-800 rounded-xl shadow-lg p-6">
-        <h3 class="text-lg font-semibold text-gray-900 dark:text-white mb-4">Upcoming Actions</h3>
+    <!-- Location Map — replaces the old Upcoming Actions panel for the
+         overview.  Operators get a quick visual of where their locations
+         sit relative to each other.  Pins clickable → scroll to + flash
+         the matching card.  Locations without coordinates land in a
+         "missing coords" hint below the map.
+         For projects with scheduled monitoring activity, the full
+         Upcoming Actions list is still available on the Schedules tab. -->
+    <div class="bg-white dark:bg-slate-800 rounded-xl shadow-lg p-4">
+        <div class="flex items-center justify-between mb-3">
+            <h3 class="text-lg font-semibold text-gray-900 dark:text-white">Location Map</h3>
             {% if upcoming_actions %}
-            <div class="space-y-3">
-                {% for action in upcoming_actions %}
-                    <div class="border border-gray-200 dark:border-gray-700 rounded-lg p-3">
-                        <p class="font-medium text-gray-900 dark:text-white">{{ action.action_type }}</p>
-                        <p class="text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400 mt-1">{{ action.scheduled_time|local_datetime }} {{ timezone_abbr() }}</p>
-                        {% if action.description %}
-                            <p class="text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400 mt-1">{{ action.description }}</p>
+                <a href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="switchTab('schedules')"
+                   class="text-xs text-seismo-orange hover:text-seismo-navy whitespace-nowrap">
+                    {{ upcoming_actions | length }} upcoming action{{ '' if upcoming_actions | length == 1 else 's' }} →
+                </a>
             {% endif %}
         </div>
-                {% endfor %}
+        <!-- `isolation: isolate` forces a new stacking context so Leaflet's
+             internal z-indexes (panes at 200-700, controls at 800) stay
+             contained inside this div instead of leaking into the root
+             stacking context and rendering over modals (which have z-50). -->
+        <div id="project-location-map" class="w-full rounded-lg border border-gray-200 dark:border-gray-700"
+             style="height: 320px; background: rgba(0,0,0,0.05); isolation: isolate;"></div>
+        <div id="project-location-map-empty" class="hidden text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400 mt-2 italic text-center">
+            No location coordinates set.  Edit a location and add a <code class="font-mono">lat,lon</code> pair to see it here.
         </div>
-        {% else %}
-            <p class="text-sm text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400">No scheduled actions.</p>
-        {% endif %}
+        <div id="project-location-map-missing" class="hidden text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400 mt-2"></div>
     </div>
 </div>
+
+<script>
+(function () {
+    // Build location data from server-side render.  Skip removed
+    // locations (their pins would clutter the active operations view)
+    // and skip ones without parseable coordinates.
+    const locationsRaw = [
+        {% for loc in locations %}
+        {% if not loc.removed_at %}
+        {
+            id:    {{ loc.id | tojson }},
+            name:  {{ loc.name | tojson }},
+            coords: {{ loc.coordinates | tojson if loc.coordinates else 'null' }},
+        }{% if not loop.last %},{% endif %}
+        {% endif %}
+        {% endfor %}
+    ];
+
+    function parseCoords(s) {
+        if (!s) return null;
+        const parts = String(s).split(',').map(x => parseFloat(x.trim()));
+        if (parts.length !== 2 || parts.some(isNaN)) return null;
+        const [lat, lon] = parts;
+        if (lat < -90 || lat > 90 || lon < -180 || lon > 180) return null;
+        return [lat, lon];
+    }
+
+    const withCoords    = [];
+    const withoutCoords = [];
+    for (const loc of locationsRaw) {
+        const xy = parseCoords(loc.coords);
+        if (xy) withCoords.push({ ...loc, latlon: xy });
+        else    withoutCoords.push(loc);
+    }
+
+    const emptyMsg   = document.getElementById('project-location-map-empty');
+    const missingMsg = document.getElementById('project-location-map-missing');
+    const mapEl      = document.getElementById('project-location-map');
+    if (!mapEl) return;
+
+    if (withCoords.length === 0) {
+        // Hide the map block and show a hint.  Don't init Leaflet at all.
+        mapEl.classList.add('hidden');
+        emptyMsg.classList.remove('hidden');
+        return;
+    }
+
+    // Initialise Leaflet.  `L` is loaded globally by base.html.
+    const map = L.map(mapEl, { scrollWheelZoom: false });
+    L.tileLayer('https://{s}.tile.openstreetmap.org/{z}/{x}/{y}.png', {
+        attribution: '© OpenStreetMap',
+        maxZoom: 18,
+    }).addTo(map);
+
+    const markers = [];
+    const bounds  = [];
+    withCoords.forEach(loc => {
+        const marker = L.circleMarker(loc.latlon, {
+            radius:      8,
+            fillColor:   '#f48b1c',
+            color:       '#fff',
+            weight:      2,
+            opacity:     1,
+            fillOpacity: 0.9,
+        }).addTo(map);
+        marker.bindTooltip(loc.name, { direction: 'top', offset: [0, -6] });
+        marker.on('click', () => _flashLocationCard(loc.id));
+        markers.push(marker);
+        bounds.push(loc.latlon);
+    });
+
+    if (bounds.length === 1) {
+        map.setView(bounds[0], 14);
+    } else {
+        map.fitBounds(bounds, { padding: [20, 20] });
+    }
+    // Without this the map renders into a 0×0 area when the partial
+    // first lands via htmx (container size not yet stable).
+    setTimeout(() => map.invalidateSize(), 100);
+
+    if (withoutCoords.length > 0) {
+        const names = withoutCoords.map(l => l.name).join(', ');
+        missingMsg.textContent = `${withoutCoords.length} location${withoutCoords.length === 1 ? '' : 's'} not shown (no coordinates): ${names}`;
+        missingMsg.classList.remove('hidden');
+    }
+
+    // Briefly highlight the matching card to confirm the click.
+    function _flashLocationCard(locId) {
+        const card = document.querySelector(`.location-card[data-location-id="${locId}"]`);
+        if (!card) return;
+        card.scrollIntoView({ behavior: 'smooth', block: 'center' });
+        card.classList.add('ring-2', 'ring-seismo-orange');
+        setTimeout(() => card.classList.remove('ring-2', 'ring-seismo-orange'), 1500);
+    }
+})();
+</script>

templates/partials/projects/project_header.html

@@ -87,9 +87,14 @@
     </div>
 </div>
 
-<!-- Merge Modal -->
+<!-- Merge Modal —
+     min-h on the body ensures the typeahead dropdown has room to render
+     below the input without forcing the operator to scroll inside the
+     modal.  overflow-visible on the body lets the dropdown extend
+     beyond the body's natural height when needed. -->
 <div id="merge-modal" class="hidden fixed inset-0 z-50 flex items-center justify-center bg-black/60 backdrop-blur-sm">
-    <div class="bg-white dark:bg-slate-800 rounded-xl shadow-2xl w-full max-w-2xl mx-4 max-h-[90vh] flex flex-col">
+    <div class="bg-white dark:bg-slate-800 rounded-xl shadow-2xl w-full max-w-2xl mx-4 max-h-[90vh] flex flex-col"
+         style="min-height: 480px;">
         <!-- Header -->
         <div class="px-6 py-4 border-b border-gray-200 dark:border-gray-700 flex items-center justify-between">
             <div>
@@ -104,7 +109,7 @@
         </div>
 
         <!-- Body -->
-        <div class="px-6 py-4 overflow-y-auto flex-1">
+        <div class="px-6 py-4 overflow-y-auto flex-1 min-h-[320px]">
             <label class="block text-sm font-medium text-gray-700 dark:text-gray-300 mb-2">
                 Target project
             </label>
@@ -202,6 +207,10 @@ async function _mergeFetchTargets() {
         return;
     }
 
+    // Stash target id + name in data-* attributes (NOT inline JS args)
+    // to avoid the quote-collision that breaks click binding when the
+    // project name contains characters JSON.stringify quotes.  Same
+    // pattern as the backfill typeahead dropdown.
     dropdown.innerHTML = candidates.map(m => {
         const scoreBadge = m.score >= 0.99
             ? '<span class="text-xs text-green-600 dark:text-green-400 ml-2">exact</span>'
@@ -212,8 +221,10 @@ async function _mergeFetchTargets() {
         if (m.location_count > 0) meta.push(`${m.location_count} location${m.location_count === 1 ? '' : 's'}`);
         const metaLine = meta.length ? `<div class="text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400">${meta.join(' · ')}</div>` : '';
         return `<button type="button"
+            data-target-id="${_mergeEsc(m.id)}"
+            data-target-name="${_mergeEsc(m.name)}"
             onmousedown="event.preventDefault()"
-            onclick="onMergePickTarget('${_mergeEsc(m.id)}', ${JSON.stringify(m.name)})"
+            onclick="_mergePickFromButton(this)"
             class="w-full text-left px-3 py-2 hover:bg-gray-50 dark:hover:bg-slate-700 border-b border-gray-100 dark:border-gray-700 last:border-b-0">
             <div class="text-sm font-medium text-gray-900 dark:text-white">${_mergeEsc(m.name)}${scoreBadge}</div>
             ${metaLine}
@@ -222,6 +233,13 @@ async function _mergeFetchTargets() {
     dropdown.classList.remove('hidden');
 }
 
+// Trampoline — reads the button's data attributes and forwards.  Keeps
+// the inline onclick free of any string interpolation that could break
+// HTML quoting (see notes on the same pattern in metadata_backfill.html).
+function _mergePickFromButton(btn) {
+    onMergePickTarget(btn.dataset.targetId, btn.dataset.targetName);
+}
+
 async function onMergePickTarget(targetId, targetName) {
     document.getElementById('merge-target-input').value = targetName;
     document.getElementById('merge-target-id').value = targetId;

templates/partials/projects/vibration_summary.html

@@ -60,6 +60,10 @@
                class="flex items-center justify-between py-1.5 px-3 rounded hover:bg-gray-50 dark:hover:bg-slate-700/50 transition-colors">
                 <span class="text-sm font-medium text-gray-900 dark:text-white truncate">
                     📍 {{ loc.location_name }}
+                    {% if loc.removed_at %}
+                    <span class="ml-1 text-[10px] uppercase tracking-wider px-1 py-0.5 rounded bg-gray-200 dark:bg-gray-700 text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-300 font-semibold align-middle"
+                          title="Location no longer actively monitored — events shown are historical">removed</span>
+                    {% endif %}
                 </span>
                 <span class="flex items-center gap-4 text-sm text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-400 whitespace-nowrap ml-3">
                     <span>{{ "{:,}".format(loc.event_count) }} event{{ '' if loc.event_count == 1 else 's' }}</span>

templates/projects/detail.html

@@ -778,6 +778,61 @@
     </div>
 </div>
 
+<!-- Remove Location Confirmation Modal —
+     Soft-removal: preserves historical events, closes active assignments,
+     cancels pending scheduled actions.  Distinct from Delete (which is
+     permanent and only allowed when there's no history). -->
+<div id="remove-location-modal" class="hidden fixed inset-0 bg-black bg-opacity-60 z-50 flex items-center justify-center">
+    <div class="bg-white dark:bg-slate-800 rounded-xl shadow-2xl w-full max-w-md m-4 p-6">
+        <div class="flex items-center gap-3 mb-4">
+            <div class="p-2 bg-amber-100 dark:bg-amber-900/40 rounded-lg">
+                <svg class="w-6 h-6 text-amber-600 dark:text-amber-400" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 24 24">
+                    <path stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" d="M9 17v-2a4 4 0 014-4h6m0 0l-3-3m3 3l-3 3M5 7h8a2 2 0 012 2v10a2 2 0 01-2 2H5a2 2 0 01-2-2V9a2 2 0 012-2z"/>
+                </svg>
+            </div>
+            <h3 class="text-lg font-semibold text-gray-900 dark:text-white">Remove location</h3>
+        </div>
+        <p class="text-sm text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-400 mb-4">
+            Mark <span id="remove-location-name" class="font-semibold text-gray-900 dark:text-white">…</span> as no longer actively monitored.
+        </p>
+        <ul class="text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400 mb-4 space-y-1 ml-4 list-disc">
+            <li>Closes any active unit assignment at this location</li>
+            <li>Cancels pending scheduled actions at this location</li>
+            <li>Historical events stay attributed (visible in reports + event lists)</li>
+            <li>Can be restored later if needed</li>
+        </ul>
+
+        <input type="hidden" id="remove-location-id">
+
+        <div class="mb-3">
+            <label class="block text-xs font-medium text-gray-700 dark:text-gray-300 mb-1">Effective date</label>
+            <input type="datetime-local" id="remove-location-effective"
+                   class="w-full px-3 py-1.5 border border-gray-300 dark:border-gray-600 rounded-lg bg-white dark:bg-gray-700 text-gray-900 dark:text-white text-sm">
+            <p class="text-[10px] text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400 mt-1">Defaults to now. Backdate if the location was physically removed earlier.</p>
+        </div>
+
+        <div class="mb-4">
+            <label class="block text-xs font-medium text-gray-700 dark:text-gray-300 mb-1">Reason (optional)</label>
+            <input type="text" id="remove-location-reason" maxlength="200"
+                   placeholder="e.g. client dropped from scope"
+                   class="w-full px-3 py-1.5 border border-gray-300 dark:border-gray-600 rounded-lg bg-white dark:bg-gray-700 text-gray-900 dark:text-white text-sm">
+        </div>
+
+        <div id="remove-location-error" class="hidden text-sm text-red-600 mb-3"></div>
+
+        <div class="flex justify-end gap-2">
+            <button onclick="closeRemoveLocationModal()"
+                    class="px-4 py-1.5 text-sm border border-gray-300 dark:border-gray-600 rounded-lg text-gray-700 dark:text-gray-300 hover:bg-gray-50 dark:hover:bg-gray-700">
+                Cancel
+            </button>
+            <button onclick="confirmRemoveLocation()"
+                    class="px-4 py-1.5 text-sm bg-amber-600 hover:bg-amber-700 text-white rounded-lg font-medium">
+                Remove
+            </button>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+</div>
+
 <!-- Delete Project Confirmation Modal -->
 <div id="delete-project-modal" class="hidden fixed inset-0 bg-black bg-opacity-60 z-50 flex items-center justify-center">
     <div class="bg-white dark:bg-slate-800 rounded-xl shadow-2xl w-full max-w-md m-4 p-6">
@@ -1213,6 +1268,94 @@ async function deleteLocation(locationId) {
     }
 }
 
+// ── Remove / Restore location ────────────────────────────────────────
+// Soft-removal: marks a location as no longer actively monitored without
+// destroying it.  Historical events stay attributed; active assignments
+// are auto-closed and pending scheduled actions are auto-cancelled.
+
+function openRemoveLocationModal(locationId, locationName) {
+    document.getElementById('remove-location-id').value = locationId;
+    document.getElementById('remove-location-name').textContent = locationName;
+    document.getElementById('remove-location-reason').value = '';
+    // Default effective_date to "now" in local datetime-input format.
+    const now = new Date();
+    const tzOffsetMin = now.getTimezoneOffset();
+    const local = new Date(now.getTime() - tzOffsetMin * 60000);
+    document.getElementById('remove-location-effective').value =
+        local.toISOString().slice(0, 16);
+    document.getElementById('remove-location-error').classList.add('hidden');
+    document.getElementById('remove-location-modal').classList.remove('hidden');
+}
+
+function closeRemoveLocationModal() {
+    document.getElementById('remove-location-modal').classList.add('hidden');
+}
+
+async function confirmRemoveLocation() {
+    const locationId = document.getElementById('remove-location-id').value;
+    const reason     = document.getElementById('remove-location-reason').value.trim();
+    const effective  = document.getElementById('remove-location-effective').value;
+    const errBox     = document.getElementById('remove-location-error');
+    errBox.classList.add('hidden');
+
+    try {
+        const response = await fetch(
+            `/api/projects/${projectId}/locations/${locationId}/remove`,
+            {
+                method: 'POST',
+                headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+                body: JSON.stringify({
+                    reason: reason || null,
+                    effective_date: effective || null,
+                }),
+            }
+        );
+        if (!response.ok) {
+            const data = await response.json().catch(() => ({}));
+            throw new Error(data.detail || 'Failed to remove location');
+        }
+        const result = await response.json();
+        closeRemoveLocationModal();
+        refreshLocationLists();
+        refreshProjectDashboard();
+        // Lightweight feedback — the UI refresh already shows the location
+        // moving to the Removed section, but a toast confirms the cascade.
+        if (typeof showToast === 'function') {
+            const bits = [];
+            if (result.assignments_closed) bits.push(`${result.assignments_closed} assignment(s) closed`);
+            if (result.actions_cancelled)  bits.push(`${result.actions_cancelled} action(s) cancelled`);
+            const tail = bits.length ? ` (${bits.join(', ')})` : '';
+            showToast(`Location removed${tail}`, 'success');
+        }
+    } catch (err) {
+        errBox.textContent = err.message || 'Failed to remove location.';
+        errBox.classList.remove('hidden');
+    }
+}
+
+async function restoreLocation(locationId, locationName) {
+    if (!confirm(`Restore "${locationName}" to active monitoring?\n\nNote: previously-closed assignments are NOT automatically re-opened — you'll need to re-assign units if you want to resume monitoring.`)) {
+        return;
+    }
+    try {
+        const response = await fetch(
+            `/api/projects/${projectId}/locations/${locationId}/restore`,
+            { method: 'POST' }
+        );
+        if (!response.ok) {
+            const data = await response.json().catch(() => ({}));
+            throw new Error(data.detail || 'Failed to restore location');
+        }
+        refreshLocationLists();
+        refreshProjectDashboard();
+        if (typeof showToast === 'function') {
+            showToast(`"${locationName}" restored to active`, 'success');
+        }
+    } catch (err) {
+        alert(err.message || 'Failed to restore location.');
+    }
+}
+
 // Assign modal functions
 function openAssignModal(locationId, locationType) {
     const safeType = locationType || 'sound';

templates/unit_detail.html

@@ -287,6 +287,16 @@
                         ↻ Refresh
                     </button>
                 </div>
+
+                <!-- Gantt chart — visual timeline of all deployments.  Click
+                     a bar to jump to its row in the list below. -->
+                <div id="deploymentGantt" class="mb-4 hidden">
+                    <div class="bg-gray-50 dark:bg-slate-900/40 rounded-lg p-3">
+                        <svg id="deploymentGanttSvg" class="w-full" style="height: 140px;" preserveAspectRatio="none"></svg>
+                        <div id="deploymentGanttLegend" class="flex flex-wrap items-center gap-x-4 gap-y-1 mt-2 text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400"></div>
+                    </div>
+                </div>
+
                 <div id="deploymentTimeline" class="space-y-3">
                     <p class="text-sm text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400">Loading timeline…</p>
                 </div>
@@ -1986,6 +1996,10 @@ loadUnitData().then(() => {
 // Replaces the legacy loadDeploymentHistory() + loadUnitHistory() pair.
 // Derives entries from unit_assignments + unit_history + SFM event overlay.
 
+// Cache the most recent timeline payload so the merge action can look up
+// which assignment_ids belong together in a mergeable group.
+let _dtCurrentTimeline = { entries: [], merge_groups: [] };
+
 async function loadDeploymentTimeline() {
     const container = document.getElementById('deploymentTimeline');
     container.innerHTML = '<p class="text-sm text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400">Loading timeline…</p>';
@@ -1994,12 +2008,58 @@ async function loadDeploymentTimeline() {
         const r = await fetch(`/api/units/${currentUnit.id}/deployment_timeline`);
         if (!r.ok) throw new Error('HTTP ' + r.status);
         const d = await r.json();
-        renderDeploymentTimeline(d.entries || [], container);
+        _dtCurrentTimeline = {
+            entries:      d.entries || [],
+            merge_groups: d.merge_groups || [],
+        };
+        renderDeploymentTimeline(_dtCurrentTimeline.entries, container, _dtCurrentTimeline.merge_groups);
     } catch (e) {
         container.innerHTML = `<p class="text-sm text-red-500">Failed to load timeline: ${e.message}</p>`;
     }
 }
 
+// Returns the merge_group (list of assignment_ids) that this assignment is
+// part of, or null if it isn't in any mergeable group.
+function _dtFindMergeGroup(assignmentId) {
+    for (const group of _dtCurrentTimeline.merge_groups || []) {
+        if (group.includes(assignmentId)) return group;
+    }
+    return null;
+}
+
+async function mergeAssignmentGroup(assignmentIds) {
+    if (!Array.isArray(assignmentIds) || assignmentIds.length < 2) return;
+    const msg = `Merge ${assignmentIds.length} consecutive assignment records into one?\n\n`
+              + `The earliest record is kept and its window extended to span all `
+              + `of them.  The other ${assignmentIds.length - 1} record(s) are deleted.\n\n`
+              + `Original metadata (notes + ingest source) is preserved.  This is `
+              + `logged to the unit's history as "assignment_merged".`;
+    if (!confirm(msg)) return;
+
+    try {
+        // All assignments share the same project_id (validated server-side).
+        // Pick the first entry's project_id from the cache.
+        const first = (_dtCurrentTimeline.entries || []).find(e =>
+            e.kind === 'assignment' && assignmentIds.includes(e.assignment_id)
+        );
+        const projectId = first ? first.project_id : null;
+        if (!projectId) throw new Error('Could not resolve project id for this group');
+
+        const r = await fetch(`/api/projects/${projectId}/assignments/merge`, {
+            method:  'POST',
+            headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+            body:    JSON.stringify({ assignment_ids: assignmentIds }),
+        });
+        if (!r.ok) {
+            const err = await r.json().catch(() => ({detail: 'HTTP ' + r.status}));
+            throw new Error(err.detail || 'HTTP ' + r.status);
+        }
+        await loadDeploymentTimeline();
+    } catch (e) {
+        alert(e.message || 'Failed to merge assignments.');
+    }
+}
+
 function _dtFmtDate(iso) {
     if (!iso) return '—';
     return iso.slice(0, 10);
@@ -2044,6 +2104,17 @@ function _dtRenderAssignment(e) {
         ? '<span class="px-2 py-0.5 rounded text-xs bg-green-100 text-green-800 dark:bg-green-900/30 dark:text-green-300">active</span>'
         : '';
 
+    // If this assignment belongs to a mergeable group, show a small
+    // indicator badge — the group-level "Merge" action lives in the
+    // banner at the top of the section to avoid N redundant buttons.
+    const mergeGroup = _dtFindMergeGroup(e.assignment_id);
+    const mergeableBadge = mergeGroup
+        ? `<span class="px-2 py-0.5 rounded text-xs bg-blue-100 text-blue-800 dark:bg-blue-900/30 dark:text-blue-300"
+                title="This row is part of a ${mergeGroup.length}-record consecutive group at the same location — see the Merge banner above to combine them.">
+              mergeable
+           </span>`
+        : '';
+
     const overlay = evCount > 0
         ? `<div class="mt-2 flex items-center gap-4 text-xs text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-400">
                <span><strong class="text-gray-900 dark:text-white">${evCount.toLocaleString()}</strong> event${evCount === 1 ? '' : 's'}</span>
@@ -2056,7 +2127,7 @@ function _dtRenderAssignment(e) {
         ? `<div class="mt-2 text-xs text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-400 italic">${_dtEsc(e.notes)}</div>`
         : '';
 
-    return `<div class="flex gap-3">
+    return `<div class="flex gap-3 transition-shadow rounded-lg" data-assignment-row="${_dtEsc(e.assignment_id)}">
         <div class="flex flex-col items-center pt-1">
             <span class="w-3 h-3 rounded-full ${e.is_active ? 'bg-green-500' : 'bg-seismo-orange'}"></span>
         </div>
@@ -2065,8 +2136,11 @@ function _dtRenderAssignment(e) {
                 <div class="text-sm text-gray-700 dark:text-gray-300">
                     <strong>${start}</strong> → <strong>${end}</strong>${dur}
                 </div>
+                <div class="flex items-center gap-2">
+                    ${mergeableBadge}
                     ${activeBadge}
                 </div>
+            </div>
             <div class="mt-1">${locLink}</div>
             ${projLine}
             ${overlay}
@@ -2118,18 +2192,253 @@ function _dtRenderStateChange(e) {
     </div>`;
 }
 
-function renderDeploymentTimeline(entries, container) {
-    if (!entries.length) {
-        container.innerHTML = '<p class="text-sm text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400">No deployment history yet. Assign this unit to a project location to start a deployment record.</p>';
+// ── Gantt chart ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+// Renders all assignment windows as colored horizontal bars on an SVG
+// timeline.  Click a bar to scroll its detail row into view in the list
+// below.  Color per location, opacity reduced for closed assignments.
+// "Mergeable" groups get a unifying outline overlay so they're visible at
+// a glance as one logical deployment.
+const _ganttColorPalette = [
+    '#f48b1c', '#142a66', '#7d234d', '#0e7490', '#15803d', '#a16207',
+    '#9333ea', '#dc2626', '#0d9488', '#1d4ed8', '#be185d', '#65a30d',
+];
+function _ganttColorFor(locId, locColorMap) {
+    if (locColorMap[locId]) return locColorMap[locId];
+    const idx = Object.keys(locColorMap).length % _ganttColorPalette.length;
+    locColorMap[locId] = _ganttColorPalette[idx];
+    return locColorMap[locId];
+}
+
+function _ganttParseDate(iso) {
+    if (!iso) return null;
+    const d = new Date(iso.replace(' ', 'T'));
+    return isNaN(d.getTime()) ? null : d;
+}
+
+function _ganttFmtMonth(d) {
+    return d.toLocaleDateString('en-US', { month: 'short', year: '2-digit' });
+}
+
+function renderDeploymentGantt(entries, mergeGroups) {
+    const wrapper = document.getElementById('deploymentGantt');
+    const svg     = document.getElementById('deploymentGanttSvg');
+    const legend  = document.getElementById('deploymentGanttLegend');
+    if (!wrapper || !svg) return;
+
+    const assignments = (entries || []).filter(e => e.kind === 'assignment' && e.starts_at);
+    if (assignments.length === 0) {
+        wrapper.classList.add('hidden');
         return;
     }
+    wrapper.classList.remove('hidden');
+
+    // Compute time domain.  Pad the end by a few days when an active
+    // assignment is present so the "active" bar doesn't reach the very
+    // edge of the chart.
+    const now = new Date();
+    let minDate = null, maxDate = null;
+    for (const a of assignments) {
+        const start = _ganttParseDate(a.starts_at);
+        const end   = a.is_active ? now : (_ganttParseDate(a.ends_at) || now);
+        if (start && (!minDate || start < minDate)) minDate = start;
+        if (end   && (!maxDate || end   > maxDate)) maxDate = end;
+    }
+    if (!minDate || !maxDate) { wrapper.classList.add('hidden'); return; }
+    // Tiny padding at both ends (3% of total span).
+    const span = maxDate - minDate;
+    const pad  = Math.max(span * 0.03, 24 * 3600 * 1000); // at least 1 day
+    minDate = new Date(minDate.getTime() - pad);
+    maxDate = new Date(maxDate.getTime() + pad);
+
+    // Build a quick "which mergeGroup is this id in?" map.
+    const idToGroup = {};
+    (mergeGroups || []).forEach((g, idx) => g.forEach(id => { idToGroup[id] = idx; }));
+
+    // Compute SVG geometry.
+    const width  = Math.max(svg.clientWidth || svg.parentElement.clientWidth || 800, 400);
+    const height = 140;
+    const padLeft   = 8;
+    const padRight  = 8;
+    const padTop    = 32;   // room for month labels above the bars
+    const padBottom = 18;   // room for assignment-count axis below
+    const usableW = width - padLeft - padRight;
+    const usableH = height - padTop - padBottom;
+    const totalRange = maxDate - minDate;
+    const xFor = (d) => padLeft + (d - minDate) / totalRange * usableW;
+
+    // Choose one-row-per-bar OR stack overlapping bars.  Since same-unit
+    // assignments rarely overlap (only via the brief unassign/reassign
+    // race), a single row is usually fine.  But just in case, stack with
+    // simple top-down packing.
+    const lanes = [];   // each lane = [{x1, x2, ...}, ...]
+    function placeInLane(start, end) {
+        for (let i = 0; i < lanes.length; i++) {
+            const last = lanes[i][lanes[i].length - 1];
+            if (last.x2 + 2 < start) {
+                lanes[i].push({ x1: start, x2: end });
+                return i;
+            }
+        }
+        lanes.push([{ x1: start, x2: end }]);
+        return lanes.length - 1;
+    }
+    const placed = assignments.map(a => {
+        const start = _ganttParseDate(a.starts_at);
+        const end   = a.is_active ? now : (_ganttParseDate(a.ends_at) || now);
+        const x1 = xFor(start);
+        const x2 = xFor(end);
+        const lane = placeInLane(x1, x2);
+        return { a, x1, x2, lane };
+    });
+    const laneCount = Math.max(lanes.length, 1);
+    const barH = Math.max(14, Math.min(28, Math.floor(usableH / laneCount) - 4));
+    const laneSpacing = barH + 4;
+
+    // Month gridlines + labels.  Tick on the 1st of each month inside the
+    // domain.  If span > 24mo, tick every 3 months instead.
+    const months = [];
+    let monthCursor = new Date(minDate.getFullYear(), minDate.getMonth(), 1);
+    const tickEveryMonths = (totalRange > 24 * 30 * 86400 * 1000) ? 3 : 1;
+    while (monthCursor <= maxDate) {
+        if (monthCursor >= minDate) months.push(new Date(monthCursor));
+        monthCursor.setMonth(monthCursor.getMonth() + tickEveryMonths);
+    }
+
+    // Build the SVG string.
+    const isDark = document.documentElement.classList.contains('dark');
+    const gridColor   = isDark ? '#374151' : '#e5e7eb';
+    const labelColor  = isDark ? '#9ca3af' : '#6b7280';
+    const todayColor  = '#f48b1c';
+
+    const locColorMap = {};
+    const usedLocs = {};
+
+    let parts = [];
+    // Month gridlines.
+    months.forEach(m => {
+        const x = xFor(m);
+        parts.push(`<line x1="${x}" y1="${padTop}" x2="${x}" y2="${height - padBottom}" stroke="${gridColor}" stroke-width="1"/>`);
+        parts.push(`<text x="${x + 2}" y="${padTop - 6}" font-size="10" fill="${labelColor}" font-family="system-ui,sans-serif">${_ganttFmtMonth(m)}</text>`);
+    });
+    // Today marker.
+    if (now >= minDate && now <= maxDate) {
+        const x = xFor(now);
+        parts.push(`<line x1="${x}" y1="${padTop}" x2="${x}" y2="${height - padBottom}" stroke="${todayColor}" stroke-width="2" stroke-dasharray="3 2" opacity="0.8"/>`);
+        parts.push(`<text x="${x + 3}" y="${height - padBottom + 12}" font-size="9" fill="${todayColor}" font-family="system-ui,sans-serif">today</text>`);
+    }
+
+    // Bars.
+    placed.forEach(p => {
+        const a = p.a;
+        const color = _ganttColorFor(a.location_id || '_', locColorMap);
+        usedLocs[a.location_name || '(no location)'] = color;
+        const y = padTop + p.lane * laneSpacing;
+        const opacity = a.is_active ? 1.0 : 0.85;
+        const stroke  = (a.source === 'metadata_backfill') ? '#3b82f6' : 'none';
+        const strokeWidth = (a.source === 'metadata_backfill') ? 2 : 0;
+
+        const barW = Math.max(p.x2 - p.x1, 3);
+        const tipDates = `${(a.starts_at || '').slice(0,10)} → ${a.is_active ? 'active' : (a.ends_at || '').slice(0,10)}`;
+        const tip = `${(a.location_name || '?').replace(/"/g, '&quot;')} (${tipDates})${a.event_overlay && a.event_overlay.event_count ? ' • ' + a.event_overlay.event_count + ' events' : ''}`;
+
+        parts.push(`<g style="cursor: pointer;" onclick="_ganttScrollTo('${a.assignment_id}')">
+            <title>${tip}</title>
+            <rect x="${p.x1}" y="${y}" width="${barW}" height="${barH}" rx="3"
+                  fill="${color}" opacity="${opacity}" stroke="${stroke}" stroke-width="${strokeWidth}"/>
+            ${a.is_active ? `<circle cx="${p.x2 - 4}" cy="${y + barH / 2}" r="2.5" fill="#fff" opacity="0.9"/>` : ''}
+        </g>`);
+
+        // Mergeable highlight — thin dashed underline below the bar.
+        if (idToGroup[a.assignment_id] !== undefined) {
+            const uy = y + barH + 1;
+            parts.push(`<line x1="${p.x1}" y1="${uy}" x2="${p.x2}" y2="${uy}" stroke="#3b82f6" stroke-width="1.5" stroke-dasharray="2 2" opacity="0.7"/>`);
+        }
+    });
+
+    svg.innerHTML = parts.join('');
+    svg.setAttribute('viewBox', `0 0 ${width} ${height}`);
+
+    // Build legend (one swatch per distinct location).
+    const legendItems = Object.entries(usedLocs).map(([name, color]) =>
+        `<span class="flex items-center gap-1.5"><span class="inline-block w-3 h-2 rounded" style="background:${color}"></span>${_dtEsc(name)}</span>`
+    );
+    if (mergeGroups && mergeGroups.length > 0) {
+        legendItems.push(`<span class="flex items-center gap-1.5"><span class="inline-block w-3 border-b-2 border-dashed border-blue-500"></span>mergeable group</span>`);
+    }
+    if (placed.some(p => p.a.source === 'metadata_backfill')) {
+        legendItems.push(`<span class="flex items-center gap-1.5"><span class="inline-block w-3 h-2 rounded border-2 border-blue-500"></span>auto-backfilled</span>`);
+    }
+    legend.innerHTML = legendItems.join('');
+}
+
+// Click-on-bar handler.  Just scroll the matching list row into view +
+// briefly flash it so the eye finds it.
+function _ganttScrollTo(assignmentId) {
+    const target = document.querySelector(`[data-assignment-row="${assignmentId}"]`);
+    if (!target) return;
+    target.scrollIntoView({ behavior: 'smooth', block: 'center' });
+    target.classList.add('ring-2', 'ring-seismo-orange');
+    setTimeout(() => target.classList.remove('ring-2', 'ring-seismo-orange'), 1500);
+}
+
+function renderDeploymentTimeline(entries, container, mergeGroups) {
+    if (!entries.length) {
+        container.innerHTML = '<p class="text-sm text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400">No deployment history yet. Assign this unit to a project location to start a deployment record.</p>';
+        // Hide the Gantt block too.
+        const g = document.getElementById('deploymentGantt');
+        if (g) g.classList.add('hidden');
+        return;
+    }
+
+    // Render the Gantt chart first (above the list).
+    renderDeploymentGantt(entries, mergeGroups);
+
+    // Build the mergeable-groups banner.  Each group offers one "Merge into
+    // one" button.  Skipped when no groups exist.
+    let bannerHtml = '';
+    if (mergeGroups && mergeGroups.length > 0) {
+        const rows = mergeGroups.map(group => {
+            // Look up the entries to describe what we're merging.
+            const groupEntries = (entries || []).filter(e =>
+                e.kind === 'assignment' && group.includes(e.assignment_id)
+            );
+            if (groupEntries.length === 0) return '';
+            const locName = groupEntries[0].location_name || 'unnamed location';
+            const earliest = groupEntries.map(e => e.starts_at).filter(Boolean).sort()[0] || '';
+            const latest   = groupEntries.map(e => e.ends_at).filter(Boolean).sort().reverse()[0] || 'present';
+            const idsJson = JSON.stringify(group).replace(/"/g, '&quot;');
+            return `<div class="flex items-center justify-between gap-3 py-1.5">
+                <div class="text-sm text-blue-900 dark:text-blue-200 min-w-0 flex-1">
+                    <strong>${group.length} consecutive records</strong> at <strong>${_dtEsc(locName)}</strong>
+                    <span class="text-xs text-blue-700 dark:text-blue-300 ml-2">${_dtFmtDate(earliest)} → ${_dtFmtDate(latest)}</span>
+                </div>
+                <button onclick='mergeAssignmentGroup(${JSON.stringify(group)})'
+                        class="px-3 py-1 text-xs rounded-full bg-blue-600 hover:bg-blue-700 text-white font-medium whitespace-nowrap">
+                    Merge into one
+                </button>
+            </div>`;
+        }).join('');
+        bannerHtml = `<div class="mb-4 p-3 rounded-lg bg-blue-50 dark:bg-blue-900/20 border border-blue-200 dark:border-blue-800">
+            <div class="flex items-start gap-2 mb-2">
+                <svg class="w-4 h-4 text-blue-600 dark:text-blue-400 flex-shrink-0 mt-0.5" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 24 24">
+                    <path stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" d="M13 16h-1v-4h-1m1-4h.01M21 12a9 9 0 11-18 0 9 9 0 0118 0z"/>
+                </svg>
+                <div class="text-xs text-blue-800 dark:text-blue-300">
+                    Consecutive deployments at the same location detected.  Combine them into a single record to clean up the view (notes + ingest sources are preserved).
+                </div>
+            </div>
+            ${rows}
+        </div>`;
+    }
+
     const html = entries.map(e => {
         if (e.kind === 'assignment')   return _dtRenderAssignment(e);
         if (e.kind === 'gap')          return _dtRenderGap(e);
         if (e.kind === 'state_change') return _dtRenderStateChange(e);
         return '';
     }).join('');
-    container.innerHTML = html;
+
+    container.innerHTML = bannerHtml + '<div class="space-y-3">' + html + '</div>';
 }
 
 // ── SFM Events section ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -2286,12 +2595,17 @@ function _ueAttrCell(ev) {
     if (a) {
         const projLabel = _ueEsc(a.project_name || '—');
         const locLabel  = _ueEsc(a.location_name || '—');
+        // If the attributed location has since been soft-removed, badge
+        // it so operators see at a glance this is historical attribution.
+        const removedBadge = a.location_removed_at
+            ? '<span class="ml-1 text-[10px] uppercase tracking-wider px-1 py-0.5 rounded bg-gray-200 dark:bg-gray-700 text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-300 font-semibold" title="Location no longer actively monitored">removed</span>'
+            : '';
         return `<a href="/projects/${_ueEsc(a.project_id)}/nrl/${_ueEsc(a.location_id)}"
                    onclick="event.stopPropagation()"
                    class="text-seismo-orange hover:text-seismo-navy"
                    title="${projLabel} → ${locLabel}">
                     📍 ${locLabel}
-                </a>
+                </a>${removedBadge}
                 <div class="text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400">${projLabel}</div>`;
     }
     const n = ev.nearest_assignment;

templates/vibration_location_detail.html

@@ -583,6 +583,14 @@ function renderAssignmentsUsed(assignments) {
                         <path stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" d="M11 5H6a2 2 0 00-2 2v11a2 2 0 002 2h11a2 2 0 002-2v-5m-1.414-9.414a2 2 0 112.828 2.828L11.828 15H9v-2.828l8.586-8.586z"></path>
                     </svg>
                 </button>
+                <button type="button"
+                        onclick="deleteAssignment('${esc(a.assignment_id)}', '${esc(a.unit_id)}', '${start} → ${end}')"
+                        title="Delete this assignment record (for mis-clicks / duplicates)"
+                        class="text-gray-400 hover:text-red-600 transition-colors p-1">
+                    <svg class="w-4 h-4" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 24 24">
+                        <path stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" d="M19 7l-.867 12.142A2 2 0 0116.138 21H7.862a2 2 0 01-1.995-1.858L5 7m5 4v6m4-6v6M1 7h22M9 7V4a1 1 0 011-1h4a1 1 0 011 1v3"/>
+                    </svg>
+                </button>
             </div>
             <span class="text-sm text-gray-700 dark:text-gray-300 whitespace-nowrap">${(a.events_in_window || 0).toLocaleString()} event${a.events_in_window === 1 ? '' : 's'}</span>
         </div>`;
@@ -608,6 +616,33 @@ function openAssignmentEditModal(encodedJson) {
     document.getElementById('assignment-edit-modal').classList.remove('hidden');
 }
 
+async function deleteAssignment(assignmentId, unitId, windowLabel) {
+    // For mis-clicks / accidental duplicate assignments.  Backend refuses
+    // if there's a real recording session inside the window — those should
+    // go through Edit or Unassign instead.
+    const msg = `Delete this assignment?\n\n`
+              + `Unit: ${unitId}\n`
+              + `Window: ${windowLabel}\n\n`
+              + `This is for assignments created in error.  Events that fell `
+              + `in this window will become unattributed.  The unit's deployment `
+              + `history will log the deletion for audit.\n\n`
+              + `If the unit actually was deployed here, use Edit or Unassign instead.`;
+    if (!confirm(msg)) return;
+
+    try {
+        const r = await fetch(`/api/projects/${projectId}/assignments/${assignmentId}`, {
+            method: 'DELETE',
+        });
+        if (!r.ok) {
+            const err = await r.json().catch(() => ({detail: 'HTTP ' + r.status}));
+            throw new Error(err.detail || 'HTTP ' + r.status);
+        }
+        await loadLocationEvents();   // Refresh stats + table without this assignment.
+    } catch (err) {
+        alert(err.message || 'Failed to delete assignment.');
+    }
+}
+
 function closeAssignmentEditModal() {
     document.getElementById('assignment-edit-modal').classList.add('hidden');
 }