

Ask HN: Feedback on an idea for a service - joshsharp

So this is an idea that's been kicking around in my head a while. I've sought feedback on it before, and had two different responses - an iPhone app dev said it sounded quite useful, while someone whose opinion I respect immensely was skeptical.<p>The idea is to create a "location wiki" - an attempt to describe every location with as much metadata as possible. This overlaps with what Chris Brogan wants Brightkite to become, "the annotated world", here http://www.chrisbrogan.com/if-i-owned-brightkite/ and I think an opportunity does exist to create this "annotated world" resource (though I don't think Brightkite is it).<p>This could have a couple of different interfaces: a website for users to visit, and an extensive API for developers.<p>The website would let users look up a location and see a description, photos, related locations, websites, whatever. For example looking up a train station would show you the line that station is part of, the suburb it's in, nearby businesses, etc., but the entry would also contain lower-level data about what type of place this is (eg. public transport), and could pull in items from other services that are geotagged.<p>But the main benefit I'm envisioning is having a service like this with a reasonably complete dataset ready to be plugged into third-party apps. As far as I'm aware, iPhone apps like nrme cobble together business listings and whatnot from a few different 3rd-party resources, but with this service, they could plug it in as their location-contextual backend and immediately have that data and functionality available. I am aware Google Maps also contains a lot of extra data about locations these days (business listings, photos, etc) but it's by no means comprehensive, nor does it aim to be I think.<p>There would be a few different ways to monetise, but I imagine selling ownership of a business' wiki entry would be the easiest - a business could buy their entry and restrict editing, publish updates, link to their website, whatever.<p>The main criticisms I've had so far are:<p>* Nobody needs it - I disagree, I think it's something that will only become more relevant as mobile/location-contextual internet use increases<p>* Not feasible, too large in scope - I agree in that I do think getting a reasonable amount of data would be the hardest task. But you have to start somewhere...<p>Would love to hear your feedback. If it's a stupid idea then please be gentle :) If not, who wants to start working on it with me?
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nreece
Most ideas take a different shape as they are gradually implemented. So your
concept may actually morph into a different application/platform as you start
working on it. I'd say start working on a prototype of what you have in mind,
and then plan the course of direction.

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siong1987
<http://www.appvee.com/t/wikime> <http://www.148apps.com/reviews/wikime/>

This is an iphone app that may have some similar features you are talking
about.

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alain94040
Many apps are great when you assume that they will be universally used.

I guess I fall in your second category: "not feasible, too large in scope".
But you know that someone, someday, will come up with something that will kind
of remind you of this idea.

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medianama
Conceptually, Its great...executing this might be difficult though...

Why don't you reduce the scope and implement it for a city... It'll reduce the
effort required to bring it to a level where you could show its value to
others...

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owkaye
That's what I was going to say. Do it in a specific location, do a really good
job of it, and make sure it really 'takes off' in that location -- and all the
while you're doing this keep thinking of how you can enlist the support of
others to 'go global' when the time comes.

You'll have money to burn in this venture because every business in the area
will want to pay you $5 a month in advertising fees to be there. Basically
you're creating a whole new advertising venue!

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vinalk
I think this idea will work. You can get people to update content for a
specific location and act as an SME. Take it to the micro level like fare for
taxi between locations. Downloadable pages of maps and hot spots to visit.

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daveambrose
After reading this, it sounds like tonchidot from TC50 (to a certain degree).

