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HELP: Just released Urban App, Need Testers

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iLLbiLLy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 2,631
I already made a thread in NSG but didn't get near as many testers as I need. The apps now on the android market place so if you interested in helping request an invite to this cult.

https://www.newschoolers.com/ns/cult/home/id/5222/t/Urban+App+Beta+Testers/

or PM me.

There are instructions on how to register (very quick 5 question survey) in the cult forums.

Jul 26 2011 11:07AM
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BIGben*
Posts: 1942 - Karma: 8
First. Alsi no iphone one?
Jul 26 2011 11:10AM
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iLLbiLLy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 2,631
yea its only available on android for now. If people use the android version I'll probably start development on the iphone.

Main reason i went with android is because its open source, free to develop on, and their market does review your app. For iphone you must develop on mac (i dont own), and theres a chance after all my hard work my app wouldn't even be approved (there may be some legal issues with its content).

Jul 26 2011 11:14AM
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Ruffles
Posts: 1132 - Karma: 29
if this is the map with all the urban rails...



Effffff yoouuuuu
Jul 26 2011 11:20AM
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corona
Posts: 12795 - Karma: 32,749
what exactly does the app do?
Jul 26 2011 11:21AM
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iLLbiLLy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 2,631
It allows users to save the location of urban features to their phone. If you choose you can upload the spot to the server where the rest of the community can see it. In later releases, you'll be able to share spots privately to other users and even plan a session with your crew.

The main goal is to help with urban road trips and communication between film crews.


Jul 26 2011 11:35AM
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B-WASS
Posts: 805 - Karma: 285
this i will test it if i know what it does
Jul 26 2011 11:37AM
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danderson.
Posts: 6560 - Karma: 5,252
That's fucking awesome. I wish I had an Android. This is definitely going to be useful. Great idea.
Jul 26 2011 11:55AM
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loganimlach
Posts: 5132 - Karma: 14,054
when you're releasing the information to everyone and their little brother, it is in no way shape or form for helping film crews.

when they need help, they call somebody, or creep around and find someone on facebook.

clean up your spots so you don't fucking ruin features for everybody.
Jul 26 2011 12:58PM
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iLLbiLLy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 2,631
Do you really think making location of handrails public will bring that much unwanted traffic? There's really only a handful of kids that are good enough to hit the type of features you guys do. And out of that handful how many do you think will actually make a road trip to your town to hit rails. I'm assuming anyone from your area who is good enough to hit those feature probably already knows about them.

The whole idea behind this is that there are 10 of thousands of dope rails out there that will never be found by someone good enough to hit it. So if some grom happens to stumble across this gnarly ass rail, he can upload it publicly to show the rest of the community about it.

But hey, I'm right there with you. I don't want this to be something that makes it harder to hit urbans, so if the rest of the community shares the same feeling as you then I'll shut it down.


Jul 26 2011 1:42PM
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loganimlach
Posts: 5132 - Karma: 14,054
i guess that it's the concept that i'm so against. it doesn't really matter how legit 99% of the people using it are, there's always going to be somebody that abuses it by showing up and building a huge jump, not cleaning it up, or causing problems when someone asks them to leaves.

i'm not trying to imply that it will ruin all of the urban everywhere, but one spot that gets nobbed is one spot less that someone gets to shoot on.
Jul 26 2011 1:53PM
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crab_pretzel
Posts: 3919 - Karma: 622
im completely behind you. i think its so dumb when people are hating on things cuz they ruin "secret" urban spots. myabe its because there are so many less skiers in my area, but i think making urban places publicly known is a great idea. i feel like the worse thing that could happen is you run into someone else at a spot, which would still be pretty sick to work together. ^the other guy does have a good point with other people somehow screwing it up for everybody with some bad decisions, but lets just hope other people arent retards
Jul 26 2011 2:16PM
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crab_pretzel
Posts: 3919 - Karma: 622
btw, whats it called??
Jul 26 2011 2:17PM
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iLLbiLLy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 2,631
Yea and its something that I've thought a lot about and haven't been able to come up with a strong solution... I think regardless of my app some people will act like idiots at urban spots and make it harder for others to hit.

I've had a couple ideas about how to prevent this from happening but i think the best solution I've come up with is just to encourage people to be respectful and clean up after themselves. I'm working on a system right now that will allow user to request removal of spots for various reason and one of the valid reason will be if simply they feel the spot is too sensitive of a location.

Another thing I've been thinking about is to keep the app permanently private. Maybe allow users to invite friends, or only offer it to selected members of NS.

Jul 26 2011 2:42PM
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iLLbiLLy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 2,631
right now you can find it in the market under the name PRIVATE BETA: FINDURB. Still not sure if i want to stick with that name. It needs to be something that the general public wont understand. For legal reasons I want to keep people that don't ski or snowboard from understanding what the app is for.
Jul 26 2011 2:45PM
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eheath
Posts: 61602 - Karma: 123,028
I think half of the fun of an urban trip is finding sick, unknown/unhit urban. Last thing a big ski company wants is some kid blowing up some urban spot for no reason. This shit happened in slc real bad, bunch of people found out about all the urban around here and now its pointless to film unless you don't give a shit, really ruins it for bigger movie companies that would like to try something on a certain feature they know about. But, since some of these spots are so blown up, you either can't hit it and/or it would look very unoriginal in their movie. Get what im saying? I think this app is a "cool" idea, but i don't think its very viable...
Jul 26 2011 2:50PM
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finchski
Posts: 470 - Karma: 621
i looked at the app in the market place. it looks siick really well done but it totally defeats the purpose of urban. to me its about searching for that perfect set up, hitting it without getting caught and noone knowing then showing the footage and have the people watching wonder how you did it and where. the unknown always helps
Jul 26 2011 2:59PM
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crab_pretzel
Posts: 3919 - Karma: 622
you guys bring up a good point^, but i also just have fun hitting urban spots. i may not be as serious as you, or live anywhere near your spots, but i dont mind if a spot near me is overexposed as long as its hittable
Jul 26 2011 3:08PM
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iLLbiLLy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 2,631
Yea that makes sense, I just think its more relative to where you are. People have been going to SLC to film urban for so long its inevitable that all the spots get blown up. I think that were this app has potential is in the smaller/less known for skiing areas that might be worth stopping by while driving across country. This app really wasn't created with 'professionals' in mind but I think one area that it could maybe be useful is on European trips.

Plus a large side of my app is to allow private sharing with your friends to make it easier to plan/execute urban missions. There's been many times where i spend 15 minutes giving directions on the phone with a friend in the blistering cold. Much easier to send them the coordinates and let google maps take over.

The app also requires that you take a photo so people know what to expect. Once again, there's been too many times where I've driven an hour + to meet out at a bogus spot.

But then again, I really don't care that much if this takes off or not. To be honest I ported this project from another app i'm writing for climbing because i thought the community could use it and in return i would get plenty of people to test my framework.

Sry for writing a paper. Just felt I needed to explain my vision better.
Jul 26 2011 3:11PM
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finchski
Posts: 470 - Karma: 621
but thats the thing if some spots start to get alot of traffic they can be shut down (capped or knobbed) because in most places doing urban is against the law ( vandalism) so too much traffic could bring unwanted attention
Jul 26 2011 3:19PM
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iLLbiLLy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 2,631
I really think your overestimating the traffic it could bring to one spot. The goal is to have a huge database of different spots. If anything it will encourage people to go to new spots that have never been hit b4.
Jul 26 2011 3:35PM
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freeskibum82
Posts: 6355 - Karma: 5,055
well it was bound to happen so props for being first?
Jul 26 2011 3:39PM
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Lucas
Posts: 4881 - Karma: 1,575
make it for iphone
Jul 26 2011 3:44PM
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seward
Posts: 5233 - Karma: 2,174

good idea.

for you iphone users.

ive been using dropped pins to store urbans for years. drop a pin, re-name it, you can even make it a contact and upload a picture. works for me, might work for you too.

Jul 26 2011 3:45PM
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loganimlach
Posts: 5132 - Karma: 14,054
that's what i do too.

then after you make your own sweet database, you can give all the spots up so that kids with no motive to find their own spots can blow it up!
Jul 26 2011 3:47PM
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crab_pretzel
Posts: 3919 - Karma: 622
yea like towson MD. thats what its made for, right?
Jul 26 2011 5:53PM
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Inline.
Posts: 4424 - Karma: 432
like Montana. there are so many great urban spots out there but you just need a little help to find it
Jul 26 2011 5:58PM
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Ungeiist
Posts: 152 - Karma: 26
This is a really good idea. It's just a way of finding spots without having to spend hours driving around. Nice work. Will the spots be ranked according to difficulty or anything like that?
Jul 26 2011 6:10PM
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Elmo.
Posts: 4317 - Karma: 663
such an ill idea. im getting a droid soon and i will definitly get this app. such a good idea
Jul 26 2011 6:20PM
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iLLbiLLy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 2,631
Not in the beta release. The current version allows you to give a title, description, select type from handrail|bombdrop|wallride and take a photo. You can also rate and comment uploaded spots. I may consider adding a difficulty field in the 1.0 release. Still a lot of work to be done so I'm not sure if ill get around to it
Jul 26 2011 6:31PM
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iLLbiLLy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 2,631
bump for more testers
Jul 27 2011 8:57PM
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Charlie_Kelly
Posts: 11954 - Karma: 12,297
fuck, this is such a good idea. well done. Unfortunately I own an iphone, not an android. would still love to see how this plays out though.
Jul 27 2011 9:02PM
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crab_pretzel
Posts: 3919 - Karma: 622
when i tried to creat an account or whatever, it said my email wasnt on the list of testers or something. do i need to join the cult?
Jul 27 2011 10:11PM
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iLLbiLLy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 2,631
your already in the cult. you just need to fill out the survey and I'll add your email to the testers table
Jul 27 2011 10:36PM
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whoa-dere
Posts: 10596 - Karma: 7,103
Frikin sweet, I just got a droid.
Jul 28 2011 12:07AM
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DayMan
Posts: 4704 - Karma: 8,748
damn i wish i had a droid. sick idea though, i hope this goes well
Jul 28 2011 12:23AM
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