# What's a "Point"?

A point is any specific **piece of data** or **user-controllable setting** that can be *read from*—and possibly *written to* (i.e. controlled)—a [device](https://kb.motion.cloud/motion-platform-software/devices/what-are-devices). 

While all points can be read, not all can be written to. What determines *writability* (i.e. whether a point can be written to) is whether a point logically could/should be controllable by users. For more information, see our explanation of [read-only vs. read+write](https://kb.motion.cloud/motion-platform-software/tiles/tiles-read-only-vs.-read+write) tiles.

What's most important to understand is that with Motion, <mark style="background-color:orange;">points are used to create</mark> [<mark style="background-color:orange;">tiles</mark>](https://kb.motion.cloud/motion-platform-software/tiles/whats-a-tile)<mark style="background-color:orange;">.</mark>

{% hint style="info" %}
**Important Distinction: Points vs. Tiles**

Your typical end users (including installers and engineers, post-installation) will never deal with points directly. Instead, they will interact with **tiles**, which encapsulate, enhance, and secure the functionalities of points. Hence points, in Motion Platform, are primarily a configuration-stage concept only, while day-to-day utilization of points actually happens by interacting with [tiles](https://kb.motion.cloud/motion-platform-software/tiles).
{% endhint %}

Another way to think about points is that points are created by the manufacturer of the device, while [tiles](https://kb.motion.cloud/motion-platform-software/tiles/whats-a-tile) are the software magic Motion provides to wrap around those points.

Points can be *many* different things, such as:

* Temperatures
* Humidity levels
* Set points for temperatures and humidity
* Lighting controls
* Pressure gauges
* Leak sensor statuses
* Contact closures (e.g. is the garage door open or closed?)
* Relay-based switches
* Occupancy/motion sensors
* Air handler statuses

Motion supports reading from and writing to points from any [supported protocol](https://kb.motion.cloud/motion-platform-software/devices/supported-protocols).

Motion also enables [treating writable points as read-only points](https://kb.motion.cloud/motion-platform-software/tiles/tiles-read-only-vs.-read+write) when configuring tiles.