No, the category base cannot be empty in GeoDirectory, but you can change the word. By default a category URL looks like /places/category/restaurants/. You can replace category with any other slug, such as type or a word in your own language.

Change the category base

1. Go to Settings > Permalinks in your WordPress admin.
2. Scroll to GeoDirectory Taxonomies.
3. Change Category base (and Tag base if you like). Neither can be left blank.
4. Save the changes.

The post type part of the URL (places) is the post type slug, set at Places > Settings > General.

Keeping old URLs working

If you are moving from GeoDirectory v1 or changing the base on a live site, links to the old category URLs would otherwise return 404 errors. Enable 404 rescue at GeoDirectory > Settings > General > Developer is on by default. It looks at 404 pages that match a GeoDirectory post type and redirects them to the right URL, which also tells search engines about the change.

Test a few old URLs after the change. For any that do not redirect, add a 301 redirect with a redirection plugin.

See Permalink Settings for the other GeoDirectory URL options.