
Show HN: Self-generated custom art for your home or Airbnb - sdubois
https://www.eliotand.me
======
ComputerGuru
It's very nice, I just wanted to wish you the best in this venture. It's
functional, well-priced, addresses a need, doesn't claim to be more than it
really is, and is pulled off very nicely.

Suggestion for more layouts.

~~~
edouard1234567
Thanks for the kind words and the suggestion. We will add a landscape format
and new styles (color schemes) in the near future. Which style is your
favorite?

~~~
michaelmior
I would love an option for a darker colour scheme. A blueprint-style white on
a dark blue would be cool.

~~~
edouard1234567
Love it! Added to the list.

------
verst
I love this. Thanks for adding the free image export option!

A word of warning: Your Foursquare API client ID and Secret are completely
visible to anyone and can easily be abused. [1]

Also, currently the client ID is exceeding its rate limit, so I cannot add my
own locations.

[1] You are making these kinds of requests:
[https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/suggestCompletion?query...](https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/suggestCompletion?query=Benaroya%20H&ll=47.6,-122.3&v=20180101&limit=10&client_id=XXXXX&client_secret=XXXXX)

~~~
verst
Possible solution:

Maybe proxy your Foursquare API requests via [https://www.eliotand.me/airbnb-
poster/search](https://www.eliotand.me/airbnb-poster/search) or a similar API
endpoint you'd create. Disallow CORS on that new API endpoint. You can keep
the API call signature but remove the client ID and secret.

On your backend you can then make those Foursquare API requests and add the
client ID and secret to the request.

~~~
xrjn
I built a microservice that does something similar[0] for Mailchimp. They have
an API that requires a secret key, but we didn't want to keep a server running
for it (and obviously didn't want anyone on the internet playing with our
key). So I set up a little python service that serves a page and 'proxies' the
API to the end user.

[0] [https://github.com/sasha42/Mailchimp-
utility](https://github.com/sasha42/Mailchimp-utility)

~~~
verst
Very nice!

You could also do this simply by running on Azure Functions (free consumption
plan). All you need to deploy is a simple proxies.json, see [1].

On the AWS side it appears you can entirely use API Gateway. Here [2] is a
Swagger 2.0 definition file I just wrote which upon import creates an API
endpoint that should proxy requests to an external API while adding your
secret credentials.

[1]: [https://aka.ms/apiproxy](https://aka.ms/apiproxy) [2]:
[https://gist.github.com/berndverst/b59fa0b38544f13c05ae0b77f...](https://gist.github.com/berndverst/b59fa0b38544f13c05ae0b77f21d9939)

~~~
verst
And for posterity, here is to create this kind of API proxy in Azure
Functions. It's even easier!

[https://gist.github.com/berndverst/37d87570418bbee77641777e1...](https://gist.github.com/berndverst/37d87570418bbee77641777e13bc10c9)

------
piyush_soni
Very nice! I downloaded the web (png) version for my brother's little guest
house outside US. I'd love to be able to

1\. Change/remove various texts on the poster (e.g., even if we have no rules,
it still adds 'House Rules').

2\. Download a bigger png file for a little charge to print locally (to avoid
international shipping charges).

But this is nice as it is!

------
codyrobbins
This is a great idea and I’m going to order one for my parent’s rental house.
Really nice job!

As constructive feedback I really wish the favorite places list showed the
address of each location rather than the location type. I think the address
would be much more useful information and the type is obvious from the name
for each location I added so it’s kind of superfluous. I also wish this
secondary text didn’t awkwardly wrap onto a new line when the location name is
long—I think ideally each place would have its name on its own line followed
by its address on a new line directly underneath it.

But that’s just a quibble—this is awesome!

------
Harvey-Specter
It would be nice to have an option to remove the House Rules / Contact
section. I just want one for my home.

~~~
njovin
Yep. I’d like to get a series of these for something like “where Mom and Dad
met”, “where you were born” etc. for my sons room.

~~~
jmkirby
Actually for the air BnB rental, I think it would be real sweet to think of
some way you can make procedural inputs from suggestions from the current
guests, and send the resulting design to them in a choice of mug or mouse mat
or tea cloth or what have you. The dates of their stay and so on . . But be
sure to advertise on the output, naturally. Anything you can do to multiply
good word of mouth is (deductable) pennies well spent.

------
nextstep
This is fantastic! One feature request would be to reduce the size of the "You
are here" circle; it's covering many blocks surrounding my place and I'd love
to make it smaller, more of a pin so it's clear what block you're on.

------
danshapiro
I'd love some options to let me use this for my office. Different icon, "guest
wifi" instead of "house rules", etc.

------
misnamed
I really like the concept, but in addition to the free png (which is nice!)
what about offering a stack of handy portable map-sized ones?

I could imagine a stack (maybe fused at the top like a post-it note pad) to
let sit out on a table so people can take one, etc...

~~~
sdubois
Thanks for the suggestion, this is something we were already considering.

~~~
misnamed
Cool! I'd definitely order something along those lines. I love handing out
little guides to guests, and this would make it super easy.

------
anc84
You are violating licenses. "© Mapbox © OpenStreetMap © Leaflet" is not
appropriate. Including a copyright mark for Leaflet suggests that you have no
idea why, so make sure you really understand whose data and art you use and
how you are allowed to do so.

~~~
surrogatekey
Having trouble finding this and am curious, if anyone could point it out -

~~~
anc84
Finding what?

------
tobltobs
Great idea!

Handling of favorite places is done really good.

I would choose the second or the fourth style as default. The first one is to
"monochrome".

If I change the size to 18x24 the circle around the "You are here" gets
stretched to a oval.

This is so cool, it deserves his own domain.

------
Raphmedia
That's perfect for the office too! A nice looking poster highlighting all the
nice 5-7 meeting spots is really cool.

I wish we could edit the "House rules" title for something more corporate.

~~~
edouard1234567
Added to the list.

------
grahamburger
Wow very nice! I don't AirBnB my house but could see using this in a corporate
office esp. where hosting people from out of town for meetings, etc. Might be
cool if you could highlight a route - 'to the airport' 'to the beach' etc.

~~~
edouard1234567
Re: Highlighting a route. Great suggestion. Added to the list.

------
license2e
Awesome work!! I want to order one for our new corporate HQ office we are
moving to..

Wish list: \- ability to change the "home" icon, \- remove some of the
headings (house rules, etc) \- less priority: upload logos (not really
necessary, but would look awesome)..

~~~
edouard1234567
Thanks for the feedback. We are making the titles "house rules" etc...
customizable. Coming soon. What would you like to the change the home icon to?
You company logo?

~~~
license2e
Thats a good idea, or allow for a "work office" icon...

~~~
vollmond
Could turn it into a family map -- home, mom work, dad work, kid 1 school,
grandma's house, etc.

------
slavik81
That's a really nice result. A few customization options would go a long way
to making it useful even beyond just airbnb rentals. I was considering buying
one for a foreign exchange student who's visiting. Though, airbnb owners are
probably easier to service and less price sensitive than me. Seems like you
targeted that product really well.

------
lpasselin
Great idea and great website. I am jealous of your design skills!

It would be great to be able to move and resize the zoomed bubble. Even a
quick toggle between the corners would do.

~~~
edouard1234567
I like the toggle idea. Added to the list and thanks for the suggestion. I
think we'll probably introduce different formats/configurations.

------
moonka
This is awesome. Since you are on HN, I imagine you are looking for feedback.
It would be great if you could easily reorder the list under favorite places.

~~~
edouard1234567
One way to do that(not ideal) is to add the places in the right order.

------
ucarion
The ability to edit/pan the map by hand afterwords is really nicely done.
Excellent work!

------
dfex
What a fantastic idea!

I wish you and your team all the best.

My only quibble is that the location data for one of my "Favourite Places" is
wrong - it would be nice to be able to manually move the location bubbles.

~~~
edouard1234567
Thanks for the feedback. Added to the list.

------
sdubois
We created the Hospitality art to help people and hosts share useful info with
guests, like favorite places, house rules, WIFI, contact info etc... all that
packaged in a beautiful poster.

------
nitemice
It's a bit silly, but I love that you can zoom out the circle map to make it
more of an overview of your location in the larger context of a city or
country even.

It's a nice little touch.

------
selectout
This is awesome. My first thought was I wish I could make this map for all the
key places for my wedding, although forcing the "House Rules" and "Contact"
section make that awkward. Also wish I could adjust where the zoom bubble is
located.

~~~
edouard1234567
We're are making the "House rules"/"Contact" titles editable. Coming soon...
Moving the bubble will be a bit trickier, you can pan the map though.

------
256cats
Seems like a copy of [https://www.tiltmaps.com/](https://www.tiltmaps.com/)

~~~
sanid
There are a lot of websites like this. First and most successful being
[http://mapiful.com](http://mapiful.com).

------
Bjartr
There's a similar service for multilayered depth maps of lakes that I've
always thought was pretty cool. Although the UI here is much slicker.

[http://lake-art.com](http://lake-art.com)

------
bottled_poe
This is a great idea! Clear target market, well implemented. I feel like
investment in advertisement will be a certain ROI.

------
hx2a
I love this! Great use of technology to build a great product.

Can you talk more about the procurement pipeline? Who actually does the
printing and shipping/handling? Did you outsource that to someone else, and if
so, who?

~~~
himynameistimli
Could be something like Printful. They have APIs for to order prints and
delivery

------
notatoad
What are you using to generate the default "favourite places" list? it picked
some pretty good ones.

------
richsaunders
This is nice, simple and easy to use. I run a small print shop and have an
idea to build something like this, where my customers can upload their design
and order from our site.

Is it possible to build something like this without back-end work? Can I build
this on static site? I know little bit of JavaScript. We build our static site
with Jekyll and GitHub.

Edit: No need to edit the file. They can only upload and order (maybe send it
as an email when they push "order"?). That's it, nothing else. Thanks!

------
techwizrd
This is great. For adding favorite places, would it be possible to show the
addresses in the autocomplete? There are more than one Safeway or Starbucks in
my area, for example.

~~~
sdubois
Good point, added to the list.

~~~
forgot-my-pw
Keeps getting error now with address lookup. "Oops, something went wrong"

~~~
worldsayshi
Probably api quota limits?

~~~
edouard1234567
It fixed now. We had some issues when we reached the #2 spot on the HN
homepage.

------
mattmillr
I love the idea, and I'd be interested in buying with a few tweaks.

\- I tried both a high-density (Manhattan) and a low-density (Very small,
rural town) location. I had trouble finding a good balance between the zoom
level on the large and small maps for both. For the dense location, I'd like
the option to remove the smaller map and just have a big map of the immediate
neighborhood.

\- The numbers for locations across the street from each other overlap and one
isn't readable. I cant' choose between suggesting the best brunch nearby and
the best chocolate chip cookies in the whole city!

\- Landscape mode would be a huge improvement.

\- It looks like numbers are assigned to the small or large map without
considering the zoom level. When I zoom in on the small map, numbers that move
outside the boundaries should show up on the large map, not just dissappear.

\- I can't change the section titles. For example, I'd like to change "My
Favorite Places" to "Our Favorite Hangouts"

\- For the rural location, only the first color option draws the roads
correctly in the big map. The other three themes omit the roads!

------
dspillett
Nice, simple, functional. Does a single job and does it well.

I would second the suggestion for some extra layout options (particularly a
landscape variant which would work much better for some areas), though take
care not to go OTT or you'll complicate the nice simple interface and put off
more users than you help with the changes. Perhaps have one or two extra
options (the most significant ones like landscape/portrait) and hide others
being an "advanced options" click. That way most people get the simple
interface but those that want to be more fussy are catered for too. Though as
always don't try to please _everyone_ , the really fussy users will never be
entirely happy and you are better off recommending that they produce their own
posters by hand!

Also, do look into the potential licensing issues mentioned by anc84. Some
effort here and now ensuring that you are compliant (either because you just
are or by negotiating different use rights with these or alternate services)
may save you a _lot_ of hassle and expense later down the line.

------
aetherspawn
I have a unique requirement for this sort of thing without any of the
locational information but a region of the map highlighted (like a zone map).
It’s probably not something you can help with, but these maps are beautiful..
is the tech stack open source?

------
Pamar
Maybe it could be nice to be able to upload a picture and have it embedded
somewhere on the main map? I am thinking of stuff like... floorplans. Or a pic
of the facade/entrance... or maype a picture of the view from the place
itself?

------
aaronpk
I like the idea, but it would be nice to see pricing info without first having
to create one

------
chasely
Great idea! This is something hat seems so obvious after the fact, but I would
have never thought of it.

I would suggest that you enable a more responsive preview. Viewing it on a
1440p monitor, the map preview could be about double in size.

------
trevor-e
Very neat, I've seen a few websites like this pop up over the past year.

Some feedback: it would be nice if the order details were part of the URL
structure so I can easily share it with people.

~~~
edouard1234567
We'll fix that very soon. In the meantime, you can use the following trick :
Click on "get this poster" button, on the checkout page, there's an edit
button, click on it. It will send you back to the edit page with a deeplink to
your configuration, you can share this link.

------
Rebelgecko
Cool idea and great execution. Just a heads up, it looks like there's some
padding on the house icon in the blown up map that can cover up nearby roads
at some zoom levels

~~~
edouard1234567
This was done on purpose :) to make the home icon more noticeable.

------
tjanks
Awesome idea but is there any way to remove some of the sections like 'House
Rules'? Maybe have custom sections? I don't rent my place out but love the
concept.

~~~
INTPenis
I don't rent my place either but instead I wrote the name of the guest wifi
under house rules. And in the big textarea I entered two line breaks so that I
can paste a sticker with the current password on it.

------
ph0rque
Love it! One request: the ability to move the house icon. It's not completely
correct on google maps, and it would be nice to manually move it to the
correct place.

~~~
edouard1234567
Thanks for the feedback. Added to the list.

------
nkrisc
First, very cool! It'd be tempting to get something like this even if I'm not
an AirBNB host.

I'm sure one could find loads of strange visual artifacts given this covers
the whole world(?), but here's one:

Some of the map styles fail to render sections of the Chicago River and North
Branch Channel. See 5500 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625 as an example.

Maybe it's an issue that affects waterways in general.

~~~
edouard1234567
Can you try again? I tried this address and it worked fine for me.

~~~
nkrisc
Yep issue persists. Only the orange and blue style correctly renders the
waterway fully. The others omit a portion of it. In that section I believe
there is a park on either side so perhaps that's got something to do with it.

I'll share a screen shot later.

------
gautamnarula
This is really cool, and something I will definitely want to buy whenever I
own a home and have Airbnb guests. Nice job!

------
jokr004
FYI: I keep getting "Oops, something went wrong" with any address that I try
in chrome and firefox.

Looks really cool though!

------
INTPenis
I immediately wanted to order one, just for my home, no airbnb.

But I'm unable to add new places. I've deleted most of the pre-selected places
and tried entereing a few different ones in the field but nothing happens. If
I click done I just see the one I didn't delete on the map and no new ones.

FF 57.0 (64-bit) on Fedora 26.

~~~
edouard1234567
Could you try in Chrome? I didn't test the site with Fedora.

~~~
alexcroox
Fedora is a linux distro. FF = Firefox

------
josephjrobison
This is amazing, I hope you make millions!

------
ehnto
That is very cool. These are the kinds of fun novel ideas that got me
interested in making web applications.

------
akavel
When panning the zoomed-in circle, the "You are here" sign should also move
around the big map (i.e. should stay accurate); doesn't seem to behave so for
me.

Also, it would be nice if reordering of items on the list would be possible.

That said, it's obviously an awesome MVP already :)

------
germainelol
Just wondering what sort of Mapbox account you're using for this? I previously
enquired about doing something similar with Mapbox, and was told if you intend
to use the images commercially for printing you'd be capped at 2,000 prints
and it'd cost you up to $5k annually.

~~~
anc84
Just use [https://openmaptiles.org/](https://openmaptiles.org/) for a fraction
of the cost (512USD) and no restrictions on how you use them commercially.

~~~
GordonS
AFAICS, you do still need to provide attribution to OpenMapTiles?

~~~
anc84
To OpenStreetMap and OpenMapTiles.
[https://openmaptiles.com/terms/](https://openmaptiles.com/terms/)

------
Kluny
The poster generator isn't working for me. Chrome 63, El Capitan, from Canada,
using uBlock Origin but I turned it off. Here's what I get.
[https://imgur.com/a/qYoFV](https://imgur.com/a/qYoFV)

~~~
omn1
Check out [https://github.com/mapbox/mapbox-gl-
js/issues/4679](https://github.com/mapbox/mapbox-gl-js/issues/4679) Also try
on a different browser.

------
leonagano
Congrats, really clever! How are you getting data from Airbnb? Just scrapping
or using any available API? I was trying to create a service based on Airbnb
data as well but didn't find any available API to get the data

------
alanfalcon
Very nice idea but it took me far too long to find the YOU ARE HERE circle
that presumably corresponds to the detail circle. There should be some clear
obvious connecting element so I can find YOU ARE HERE much more easily. Good
luck with this!

------
aboodman
Lovely idea. I bought one for my home, but the email confirm I received had an
image that looked much different than the one that I customized. The text was
much bigger and overlapped, even though I had customized it to not be like
that.

~~~
edouard1234567
The actually print will look the same as what you saw on the site, while
editing. This screenshot in the confirmation email is just an approximation.
We'll fix that in the future. Thanks for pointing that out.

------
kevincennis
Might be missing something, but I'm fairly certain that Mapbox requires you to
include attribution here. They also prohibit printing for commercial purposes,
although that's lifted for enterprise plans, which you might have.

~~~
anc84
This is using Mapbox vector tiles with a style custom designed by the
ellotand, right? Does Mapbox really prohibit using a product created that way
on their platform and _can_ they?

~~~
maxerickson
I don't know what the law is, but in principle at least, the selection of the
data to include in the tiles (in general and for specific scales) and
processing like generalization are both "cartography" at least as much as they
are "database queries".

------
ranit
Good idea and execution. Hope you succeed.

I noticed one bug: If I edit and move the position inside of the "zoom-in"
area, "You are here" circle position on the big map remains on its original
place.

------
degenerate
Is the instant autocomplete in the address box ("whereInput") part of the
Mapbox API or offered directly by google? What is that called because I can't
find it by searching? It's very nice.

~~~
edouard1234567
We use google autocomplete for this.

------
laktak
Is this from Google Maps or somewhere else? How do you handle the copyrights?

~~~
habi
The footer mentions OpenStreetMap.

~~~
kazkada
Generated PNG does not mention OpenStreetMap. It seems that it violates
OpenStreetMap requirements laid in
[http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright/en](http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright/en):

"How to credit OpenStreetMap

We require that you use the credit “© OpenStreetMap contributors”."

~~~
rmc
There's also slightly more requirements than that. The credit must be placed
so a reasonable user will see it. This is important if you have (say) an app.
You cannot just bury the credit deep in the settings screen.

------
alanthonyc
Very nice! Bought one immediately (not even for an AirBnB listing, btw).

------
bentpins
Neat! Btw with my monitor in portrait half the example poster is cut off

~~~
edouard1234567
Thanks, will fix.

------
apapli
Love it! And Balthazar is awesome too :)

Best wishes, this is such an awesome idea.

------
t0mk
it looks really good! The printed map would be nice even as a gift.

------
linux2647
What is the source of the autogenerated favorite places? Is it looking for the
most+highest rated places or something? I ask because I was impressed with
what it came up with

~~~
alexcroox
[https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/suggestCompletion?query...](https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/suggestCompletion?query=Benaroya%20H&ll=47.6,-122.3&v=20180101&limit=10&client_id=XXXXX&client_secret=XXXXX)

------
edouard1234567
FYI : We just added the ability to customize titles and remove sections (if
you delete all data in a section). This was the most requested feature.

------
zeveb
Doesn't seem to work in Firefox 57 on Linux. I disabled uMatrix, but do have
Privacy Badger & uBlock running.

Also, checkout says 'Get your hospitality poster.'

Looks awesome though!

------
SSilver2k2
Love this but saw a small typo.

When you select free, the modal that appears to enter in an email says "Get
yout hospitality poster".

It should be "Get your hospitality poster"

~~~
edouard1234567
Thanks, will fix.

------
ianhawes
This is a great idea. I've sent it to several people I know that rent out
their homes.

Are you printing yourself or outsourcing it? If you're outsourcing it, to
whom?

~~~
sdubois
We are using a local company for now, but might switch to a service to handle
high volume.

------
frenchman_in_ny
Minor suggestion - would be nice to be able to rotate map to align street grid
(eg, NYC) to top vs true North as used.

------
tyingq
Nice, but some base set of of notable (and editable) landmarks would bring it
from "meh" to "yeah".

~~~
edouard1234567
You add/edit landmarks already. Just click on the map.

------
jacobush
What about overseas customers and shipping options? Could it be printed in
Europe or a PDF be had instead somehow.

~~~
edouard1234567
We are shipping to Europe for a fee. See booking page

~~~
C4stor
Honestly, shipping to Europe is prohibitive (at least for me) right now. I'd
happily pay for a super HD pdf to print at my local print shop !

------
welder
It should hide "House Rules" and "Contact" headings when the inputs for those
sections are empty.

~~~
edouard1234567
We're changing that in the next few days.

------
mattbierner
What service do you use for printing? Been interested in prototyping some
similar ideas with on demand printed work

------
julienfr112
Amazing !! Three out of five restaurants are the ones I would recommend. Is
this from yelp or google maps ?

~~~
edouard1234567
We use foursquare. BTW, you can customize the list if you'd like. Just click
on the map.

------
thebiglebrewski
Wow, this is a great idea! Congrats!

------
typon
Wow this is beautiful and well-done. Are you getting the top 5 things to do
data from Yelp?

------
zhoujianfu
Cool, you should integrate with levelframes.com to offer people framed
versions too!

------
amelius
Frankly, this looks like something that was created by a company, not an
artist.

~~~
lima
[https://www.eliotandme.com/about](https://www.eliotandme.com/about)

~~~
amelius
Yes, it's a company. But that doesn't mean that the artwork should have a
corporate style. I suspect most people here like this style because of
professional involvement, but most people will not experience this as art, not
by a long shot.

------
twodayslate
It would be great if you could re-arrange your favorite places and add notes

------
ultrasounder
Nice idea

------
pingec
My place is in the middle of nowhere, there is nothing detailed to show in the
circle, so although the circle is the fanciest feature of the poster it would
still be nice if there was a way to disable the circle. That would make it
useful to me.

------
kenning
put in my address and got "oops something went wrong?"

~~~
edouard1234567
We had some server issues earlier today. This is fixed.

------
dustinsterk
Bravo! This is very well done. Thank you for sharing.

------
amelius
"Hapiness guaranty" is wrong spelling.

------
edouard1234567
My favorite style is the retro looking one.

------
bmsleight_
Email web/png not working for me

~~~
edouard1234567
Can you try again? We had to restart the servers to push a fix.

------
mstade
This is great, I’m ordering one!

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trisimix
Very nice

------
sigi45
"or Airbnb"? what?

------
dawhizkid
Serious question: if you care about your privacy how can you stay in an Airbnb
with little way of thoroughly checking whether the owner has put a camera in
the bedroom, bathroom, etc?

~~~
alanfalcon
A little faith in humanity and in your ability to judge character. If you’re
absolutely paranoid about this sort of thing, how do you even use a public
restroom? How do you know your own house doesn’t have cameras watching you?
Even James Bond lets his guard down now and then.

~~~
dawhizkid
Well I’m asking because there have been news stories about this exact
practice. And those are only the ones that have been found.

