Urban spot app?

N

nine50seven

Member
Does anyone know of a good app that you can take a picture, write a few notes, and save the location of spots? I have a few already downloaded that I don't really like but was curious if there are any you guys like?
 
Eero Ettala has made an app called SpotDigger. There's a ton of spots in Finland in it but not too sure about other countries.
 
From a viable business standpoint it is a terrible idea. No one's going to post their urban spot for randoms to use. There's no incentive and even if there was they're running the risk of blowing their spot.

And from a liability standpoint it's a complete nightmare. Not only is the activity inherently dangerous, but you're equipping, and some would argue advocating for, people to trespass and vandalize property.

I've really thought this one through. I even have a business plan laying around somewhere for a spot map style website. It's just not going to work.
 
13162423:Peach. said:
From a viable business standpoint it is a terrible idea. No one's going to post their urban spot for randoms to use. There's no incentive and even if there was they're running the risk of blowing their spot.

And from a liability standpoint it's a complete nightmare. Not only is the activity inherently dangerous, but you're equipping, and some would argue advocating for, people to trespass and vandalize property.

I've really thought this one through. I even have a business plan laying around somewhere for a spot map style website. It's just not going to work.
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Easily solved by having the ability to control spot sharing. The app i wrote, only had functionality for public and private, but there was a more sophisticated sharing schema in the works, that would essentially let you share spots directly with only certain groups of people (similar to the google plus model).

The liability is no different than that of any public form (NS for example). MountainProject has lots of climbs that are located on private land. Typically there is a notification about access issues, but that isn't to protect themselves, only the relationship between climbers and the land owners. A private land owner could of course try to take action against your company for having their location on there, but that would likely just end in you removing the spot.

Still, I wouldn't argue that the a app like this has potential to be a viable business... make make a little cash on the side, but nothing serious.
 
There are like 5 spots in spot digger in Minneapolis and most of them are trash. Water tower rail is nice though. They were all put up by a kid I know who lives in my area, he's nice but talks too much if you know what I mean.
 
13162545:iLLbiLLy said:
Easily solved by having the ability to control spot sharing. The app i wrote, only had functionality for public and private, but there was a more sophisticated sharing schema in the works, that would essentially let you share spots directly with only certain groups of people (similar to the google plus model).

The liability is no different than that of any public form (NS for example). MountainProject has lots of climbs that are located on private land. Typically there is a notification about access issues, but that isn't to protect themselves, only the relationship between climbers and the land owners. A private land owner could of course try to take action against your company for having their location on there, but that would likely just end in you removing the spot.

Still, I wouldn't argue that the a app like this has potential to be a viable business... make make a little cash on the side, but nothing serious.
Click to expand...

I had never considered selective sharing. Although if you're only sharing with the social group you ride with I'm not sure there needs to be a new channel to disperse that information solely to them. It definitely solves one problem though.
 
13162423:Peach. said:
From a viable business standpoint it is a terrible idea. No one's going to post their urban spot for randoms to use. There's no incentive and even if there was they're running the risk of blowing their spot.

And from a liability standpoint it's a complete nightmare. Not only is the activity inherently dangerous, but you're equipping, and some would argue advocating for, people to trespass and vandalize property.

I've really thought this one through. I even have a business plan laying around somewhere for a spot map style website. It's just not going to work.
Click to expand...

Very valid points.

The whole idea of blowing up a spot used to be very true, but I feel like if they already bagged a shot or two then why not share the coordinates and info about it if they aren't going back?

It is hard to think about this being a viable business idea though.
 
Dammit I wish I was better at coding. Seems like a good app to write, make a little moolah, benefit the ski community.
 
Maybe to avoid the liability through a app put like a special forum up in here. We practically already promote urban in a way so why not just make a special forum? That would be the best way i think.
 
People have been trying to make this work for years now and a few have even released an early version of it that eventually led to failure. A lot of skiers do not want spots being shared publicly, it ruins a lot of the creativity and effort involved in finding spots. Also if a really good spot is posted and it gets a lot of attention from skiers, it will eventually get the attention of property owners and law enforcement. I think the only way this could work would be to have it setup where you can only share with friends or people in your area. Would be cool if it someone got it going in the right way to minimize hate so people could actually back it up. Unfortunately you'd need a situation like malcolm and shredsauce, where you are getting the majority of your target community behind the idea and helping you work out kinks. If anyone is good with writing apps I don't think it would be terribly difficult to setup; make an account, add friends' accounts to view a feed of spots being posted, the ability to favorite/repost a spot you like, use the locator on most phones to get a separate feed of public spots near you, then a way to rate/comment on spots (rate different categories such as chance of getting shutdown, ease of access and setup, etc), and then lastly just the ability to post a picture(s) of the spot, a description, and have it pin it to google maps. Would love to see it work where you determine who can see what spots, but would need a lot of back up from the community. Wish I knew how to code/write apps/
 
13163514:AlexFogo85 said:
People have been trying to make this work for years now and a few have even released an early version of it that eventually led to failure. A lot of skiers do not want spots being shared publicly, it ruins a lot of the creativity and effort involved in finding spots. Also if a really good spot is posted and it gets a lot of attention from skiers, it will eventually get the attention of property owners and law enforcement. I think the only way this could work would be to have it setup where you can only share with friends or people in your area. Would be cool if it someone got it going in the right way to minimize hate so people could actually back it up. Unfortunately you'd need a situation like malcolm and shredsauce, where you are getting the majority of your target community behind the idea and helping you work out kinks. If anyone is good with writing apps I don't think it would be terribly difficult to setup; make an account, add friends' accounts to view a feed of spots being posted, the ability to favorite/repost a spot you like, use the locator on most phones to get a separate feed of public spots near you, then a way to rate/comment on spots (rate different categories such as chance of getting shutdown, ease of access and setup, etc), and then lastly just the ability to post a picture(s) of the spot, a description, and have it pin it to google maps. Would love to see it work where you determine who can see what spots, but would need a lot of back up from the community. Wish I knew how to code/write apps/
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I like your approach but I'm still not sure there needs to be another channel to share this information through. I mean, if you're friends with these people then there are shit loads of avenues you can use to disperse information through the web. Facebook, twitter, and this very forum.

And you're write, the coding is pretty simple. Especially if you're just modifying a Google Maps plug in.
 
13162994:.Lincoln said:
Maybe to avoid the liability through a app put like a special forum up in here. We practically already promote urban in a way so why not just make a special forum? That would be the best way i think.
Click to expand...

But would that forum get traffic? What would be the motivation for members to share their spots? Realistically how much information are you going to be able to find on a location pertinent to your interests?

Answer these questions and you're pretty much golden. I would make it a cult instead of a forum though. Your challenge would be keeping the cult from going stagnant like nearly every other one on NS has.
 
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