5 ms·

Show HN: Live location-based messaging board

22 points by Shout_App 12y ago

Shout_App 12y ago
A new app that I have just released. It allows users to communicate with others around them, or by traveling to a new location and participating there. You can think of it as a live Yik Yak app. It could be used to get help with travel plans, give shout outs, or share funny/embarrassing things going on in your community. In a way, it acts like a real life version of a public chat in an MMORPG. Would appreciate any feedback!
- dnhnfdbf5 12y ago
  I really hope you're just starting out because this was the first app kids at our uni built when they were 18...this idea has been engineered to death...heck you could probably find 5 of these projects on github...
  - JTxt 12y ago
    They made something. Good job! You seem to be brand new and have nothing to show.
    - Shout_App 12y ago
      Thank you :)
    - dnhnfdbf5 12y ago
      You're only adding fuel to their mediocracy. You should be direct and tell them to do better. With proper guidance, these guys actually might. btw, your assumption about me #totallyFalse
      - JTxt 12y ago
        Right, this idea is way over done. And I have not seen it do well yet. Perhaps someone will do it right... They made something and want feedback. That's better than making a throwaway and trolling at least.
      - hkailahi 12y ago
        Troll. Did you make the 'bigbangtheory1' account too? Congrats on getting something out. I had a similar idea that's now too far in the backlog, so hopefully you'll find use from it. It'd be awesome if I could set a mobile chatroom around myself with some choice of radius. While sitting in class I could spin up a room for classmates, and ask questions/chat/pre-poll iClicker answers/etc. Maybe add some pseudo-anonymity. The thought that you don't know who you are talking to, even when they're right next to you, is pretty exciting. Maybe anon-chat roulette with people in the radius? The extrapolations get weird.
dnhnfdbf5 12y ago
I also want to add...how did this make HN front page?? Really, this has to be rigged; I've seen a plethora of better articles not even get 1 point, and how this got 7 amazes me...
- Shout_App 12y ago
  Not sure what I did to deserve this... but okay. Thanks for the feedback.
  - Avitas 12y ago
    Do not take that personally. They were just sharing their opinion... okay, in a dickish way in hindsight to your reaction. Duck's back. Water.
  - dang 12y ago
    (I'm the lead moderator here.) You did nothing to deserve it. That kind of trollery seems unfortunately to be a cost of being on the internet. We banned those accounts. The comments had already been killed by user flags, so your fellow HN users were looking out for you. Most are nice, so I'll hope you'll do what the rest of us do, tune out the noise, stick around, and keep sharing your work.
    - Shout_App 12y ago
      Thank you very much :) While those were difficult to get as some of the first "comments" other HN users definitely stepped in and gave great and constructive feedback.
- bigbangtheory1 12y ago
  +1, been here awhile; created a throw away account; 2nd'd
hangonhn 12y ago
I had basically the exact same idea but am glad someone else did nonetheless. I think your apps looks much better than what I would have done. Congratulations! Ideas are dime a dozen but implementation takes real investment. Good luck!
- Shout_App 12y ago
  Thank you very much! I think the more difficult problem is getting users, at least compared to the actual programming of the app. XD
justsee 12y ago
Congratulations on shipping! Rolling up your sleeves for some location-based, real-time coding would have been a bit of fun right? Giants like Twitter have obviously had location-based tweets for a long time but a sizable segment of those users will always be reluctant to share their location against what can be a very public, linked account. An app like this that allows anonymous users to jump into location-chats anywhere could be really useful. Obviously geographic channels on IRC have existed for aeons and do the same thing, but putting it in a modern app for a new generation makes sense. There are undoubtedly loads of other existing services and apps doing this kind of thing, but who cares if this is all a personal R&D mission right? You never know where it might lead. Keep at it!
- Shout_App 12y ago
  Thank you very much for your feedback, I really appreciate it! I've made a few iterations of this idea, but I am most proud of this one... at least I am improving. I see this app being similar to Yik Yak, the more popular app (that I know of) in this niche. I decided I wanted to do what I can to improve on this. Being anonymous/not requiring to sign up to use this app was one major component, which is done... but I wanted other users to be able to get to new locations and be able to contribute there (if you're familiar with Yik Yak, it's read-only at other locations other than your own). There are a lot of apps allowing location based apps, but I wasn't aware of any that made it... visual on a map like this app. IRC and other apps like this are mostly just the "message list" part and not see "more detail/context" on a map. It was a fun project to work on nonetheless :)
Avitas 12y ago
Crashed almost immediately upon startup and map display. I'll try on other devices if it keeps doing this on this one. The concept seems pretty cool. I like it. It has the potential to do a lot of useful and fun things. I really hope the dark side doesn't rear up too quickly. If not watched carefully, it could become a cesspool of hate, crime, defacement, intimidation...
- Shout_App 12y ago
  Hey! Thank you for letting me know. That's the first I've heard of that happening, were you able to send a report? Yes, that is a good point... perhaps I should add a "report" feature to each post. What do you think? :)
  - Avitas 12y ago
    Yup, I sent a report. I have narrowed it down to being triggered by the go to gps coordinate icon. It happens on the only device I have tried it with thus far. I sent a few messages and got a 'lol,' so the basic functionality of that works. I also noticed that user locations appear to be intentionally generalized to the nearest town/neighborhood center. That's probably good thinking for now, though I relize it may be unintentional on your part. When I tried to link a photo to my account, the gallery image I selected was not used. Instead, a photo that is not even in the category/folder I selected was used. No matter what image I select in any category/folder, it always uses that same pic. Sadly, it looks awful on my 10" tablet. Clearly, this is a 0.1 version. Overall... even considering the few negatives, it's a really nice concept that should continue to be developed and polshed. You should be proud.
    - Shout_App 12y ago
      I just saw the report and agree it is due to the "go to" icon as you said. The most likely cause of that is if you do not have location services enabled/your tablet hasn't found your location yet and my app is trying to make use of a location that "doesn't exist" yet. I will implement a fix for that tomorrow. The user location should be exact, but there is a limitation due to the "macro level view" -- I think. You make a very excellent point... my first version/draft was meant for phones. I didn't add any special logic/format any views for tablets. That would take a little bit longer to implement. I don't have a tablet, and honestly didn't think of it. Thank you for pointing it out :) The photo problem is pretty interesting... as I've been able to change/use multiple different photos and got what I wanted. It could be a tablet thing... Your feedback is very useful, a lot of what I hoped to get from posting here. Thank you very much.

22 points by Shout_App 12y ago

A new app that I have just released. It allows users to communicate with others around them, or by traveling to a new location and participating there. You can think of it as a live Yik Yak app. It could be used to get help with travel plans, give shout outs, or share funny/embarrassing things going on in your community. In a way, it acts like a real life version of a public chat in an MMORPG. Would appreciate any feedback!

dnhnfdbf5 12y ago
I really hope you're just starting out because this was the first app kids at our uni built when they were 18...this idea has been engineered to death...heck you could probably find 5 of these projects on github...
- JTxt 12y ago
  They made something. Good job! You seem to be brand new and have nothing to show.
  - Shout_App 12y ago
    Thank you :)
  - dnhnfdbf5 12y ago
    You're only adding fuel to their mediocracy. You should be direct and tell them to do better. With proper guidance, these guys actually might. btw, your assumption about me #totallyFalse
    - JTxt 12y ago
      Right, this idea is way over done. And I have not seen it do well yet. Perhaps someone will do it right... They made something and want feedback. That's better than making a throwaway and trolling at least.
    - hkailahi 12y ago
      Troll. Did you make the 'bigbangtheory1' account too? Congrats on getting something out. I had a similar idea that's now too far in the backlog, so hopefully you'll find use from it. It'd be awesome if I could set a mobile chatroom around myself with some choice of radius. While sitting in class I could spin up a room for classmates, and ask questions/chat/pre-poll iClicker answers/etc. Maybe add some pseudo-anonymity. The thought that you don't know who you are talking to, even when they're right next to you, is pretty exciting. Maybe anon-chat roulette with people in the radius? The extrapolations get weird.

dnhnfdbf5 12y ago

I also want to add...how did this make HN front page?? Really, this has to be rigged; I've seen a plethora of better articles not even get 1 point, and how this got 7 amazes me...

Shout_App 12y ago
Not sure what I did to deserve this... but okay. Thanks for the feedback.
- Avitas 12y ago
  Do not take that personally. They were just sharing their opinion... okay, in a dickish way in hindsight to your reaction. Duck's back. Water.
- dang 12y ago
  (I'm the lead moderator here.) You did nothing to deserve it. That kind of trollery seems unfortunately to be a cost of being on the internet. We banned those accounts. The comments had already been killed by user flags, so your fellow HN users were looking out for you. Most are nice, so I'll hope you'll do what the rest of us do, tune out the noise, stick around, and keep sharing your work.
  - Shout_App 12y ago
    Thank you very much :) While those were difficult to get as some of the first "comments" other HN users definitely stepped in and gave great and constructive feedback.
bigbangtheory1 12y ago
+1, been here awhile; created a throw away account; 2nd'd

hangonhn 12y ago

I had basically the exact same idea but am glad someone else did nonetheless. I think your apps looks much better than what I would have done. Congratulations! Ideas are dime a dozen but implementation takes real investment. Good luck!

Shout_App 12y ago
Thank you very much! I think the more difficult problem is getting users, at least compared to the actual programming of the app. XD

justsee 12y ago

Congratulations on shipping! Rolling up your sleeves for some location-based, real-time coding would have been a bit of fun right? Giants like Twitter have obviously had location-based tweets for a long time but a sizable segment of those users will always be reluctant to share their location against what can be a very public, linked account. An app like this that allows anonymous users to jump into location-chats anywhere could be really useful. Obviously geographic channels on IRC have existed for aeons and do the same thing, but putting it in a modern app for a new generation makes sense. There are undoubtedly loads of other existing services and apps doing this kind of thing, but who cares if this is all a personal R&D mission right? You never know where it might lead. Keep at it!

Shout_App 12y ago
Thank you very much for your feedback, I really appreciate it! I've made a few iterations of this idea, but I am most proud of this one... at least I am improving. I see this app being similar to Yik Yak, the more popular app (that I know of) in this niche. I decided I wanted to do what I can to improve on this. Being anonymous/not requiring to sign up to use this app was one major component, which is done... but I wanted other users to be able to get to new locations and be able to contribute there (if you're familiar with Yik Yak, it's read-only at other locations other than your own). There are a lot of apps allowing location based apps, but I wasn't aware of any that made it... visual on a map like this app. IRC and other apps like this are mostly just the "message list" part and not see "more detail/context" on a map. It was a fun project to work on nonetheless :)

Avitas 12y ago

Crashed almost immediately upon startup and map display. I'll try on other devices if it keeps doing this on this one. The concept seems pretty cool. I like it. It has the potential to do a lot of useful and fun things. I really hope the dark side doesn't rear up too quickly. If not watched carefully, it could become a cesspool of hate, crime, defacement, intimidation...

Shout_App 12y ago
Hey! Thank you for letting me know. That's the first I've heard of that happening, were you able to send a report? Yes, that is a good point... perhaps I should add a "report" feature to each post. What do you think? :)
- Avitas 12y ago
  Yup, I sent a report. I have narrowed it down to being triggered by the go to gps coordinate icon. It happens on the only device I have tried it with thus far. I sent a few messages and got a 'lol,' so the basic functionality of that works. I also noticed that user locations appear to be intentionally generalized to the nearest town/neighborhood center. That's probably good thinking for now, though I relize it may be unintentional on your part. When I tried to link a photo to my account, the gallery image I selected was not used. Instead, a photo that is not even in the category/folder I selected was used. No matter what image I select in any category/folder, it always uses that same pic. Sadly, it looks awful on my 10" tablet. Clearly, this is a 0.1 version. Overall... even considering the few negatives, it's a really nice concept that should continue to be developed and polshed. You should be proud.
  - Shout_App 12y ago
    I just saw the report and agree it is due to the "go to" icon as you said. The most likely cause of that is if you do not have location services enabled/your tablet hasn't found your location yet and my app is trying to make use of a location that "doesn't exist" yet. I will implement a fix for that tomorrow. The user location should be exact, but there is a limitation due to the "macro level view" -- I think. You make a very excellent point... my first version/draft was meant for phones. I didn't add any special logic/format any views for tablets. That would take a little bit longer to implement. I don't have a tablet, and honestly didn't think of it. Thank you for pointing it out :) The photo problem is pretty interesting... as I've been able to change/use multiple different photos and got what I wanted. It could be a tablet thing... Your feedback is very useful, a lot of what I hoped to get from posting here. Thank you very much.