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Show HN: Spotsy – iPhone app to discover the world through Instagram

34 points by wlindner 12y ago

bitsweet 12y ago
Nice work. I've always wondered why Instagram has made it so difficult to find photos by location. Update: why do you require my Instagram username/pwd when they support OAuth? Not a fan
- wlindner 12y ago
  RE not using OAuth: I did that because users had a lot of trouble using the oauth login, so I basically just pass the users credentials to the oauth page. If you prefer oauth just press "Forgot Password" in the login popup and press the go back link, it will bring you to the standard Instagram login and will work the same.
  - bitsweet 12y ago
    that worked. I'd probably feel comfortable if there was just a disclaimer that said you don't store credentials on the login page. I'm probably too trusting but I like it when product designers are thoughtful enough to explain what is done with credentials/data.
- wlindner 12y ago
  Thanks! The app was designed by @alexsailer and developed by me, @wlindner. I've always wondered the same thing, and I think it's because all of the location data in the Instagram app comes from Foursquare. It would be really competitive with Foursquare if Instagram could search locations, so I don't think Foursquare will let them. That being said, all of this could change with Facebook places instead of Foursquare locations: http://www.fastcompany.com/3028166/instagram-testing-facebook-places-integration-to-replace-foursquare http://www.fastcompany.com/3028166/instagram-testing-faceboo...
michaelchum 12y ago
Wow, this is nicely done, very neat. Great job! Just out of curiosity, is this a native app? I really like the animations of the modal windows, I wonder how you made them so awesome!
- wlindner 12y ago
  Thanks a lot! Yes, it is a native ios app. For animations I used https://github.com/zrxq/UIView-EasingFunctions/ https://github.com/zrxq/UIView-EasingFunctions/ For animations, it's very important to use the right easing function to make it fit the feeling you want to evoke. For instance, I used a keyframe animation for the login modal when you close it to not log in. It evokes a feeling of disappointment because it awkwardly swings down because you are not logging in :)
cdevroe 12y ago
I've been looking for an application like this for a while now. I had toyed with a few that simply didn't fit. Now I have an application that will help me plan kayaking trips, vacations, events, etc. Great work!
- wlindner 12y ago
  Wow, that is so awesome to hear! I hope you enjoy using the app.
danso 12y ago
Instagram's search-by-geo-coordinates endpoint is one feature that makes the API so valuable and interesting...Other services have it, of course, but Instagram's version has higher value because geolocation is turned on by default...I read somewhere that maybe 2-5% of Tweets have geodata, whereas Instagram content is at 30 to 50%. The investigative newsroom ProPublica (disclosure: my former employer) had a fun use-case, in which they knew of a lobbyist-politician ski resort retreat, looked up the location of the resort, and then used Instagram's location/date filters to see who was on the trip (at least one lobbyist posted a photo from their own publicly identifiable account): http://www.propublica.org/nerds/item/a-super-simple-tool-to-search-instagram-by-time-and-location http://www.propublica.org/nerds/item/a-super-simple-tool-to-...
- maxerickson 12y ago
  We need to develop a social norm that sharing something is not necessarily permission to publicize it. There's lots of contexts where it is probably fine, but I think there are also quite some contexts where it isn't so fine. I'm not trying to get up on a high horse and preach, it's just kind of gross to completely change the sort of attention that is being directed at something that someone shared. I know that some of the response to this will be to not post it publicly if you don't want people to see it, but that's exactly the thought I want to push back against, just because something is available at a public url doesn't mean it is a cool thing to point reddit at it.
  - danso 12y ago
    I agree that social norms need to become better (i.e., people need to be better and more decent), but you have to consider why publicizing this info (not in this particular case, but for any given person and any given content) is not considered illegal in the United States, currently: such a law would almost certainly be used to squash freedom of expression. This has been the case long before Instagram and the Internet becoming mainstream, including the denial of requests for public government records and the photography of police actions on the purported concern for privacy. I know you're only talking about social norms...but such things influence and are influenced by law and regulations...I'm just pointing out that it doesn't exist in a vacuum.
pixelcort 12y ago
In Tokyo it's just pictures of food. I wonder if there was a way to detect pictures of food automatically so it could be filtered out.
- wlindner 12y ago
  I know what you mean, it sounds like you want to search or explore by categories. So, when you want to see landmarks, you only see those, but if you wanted to see food, you could filter by that as well. Thanks for the feedback. Also, these results will be different at different times of day.
  - spike021 12y ago
    Not sure exactly how your app works but maybe you can use the API to check for tags on each photo you load. If any tag contains some word that would relate to food, then just don't load/display it.
    - wlindner 12y ago
      I think it's more about finding out what type of location it is: restaurant, bar, club, park, concert venue, whatever. Then filter by that. Rather than the individual photos. But I like the idea of a "no food pics" option :) Instagram is infamous for stuff like that.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- ahmadss 12y ago
  as mentioned in an earlier post, mind sharing what else you'd like to see instead of food? how else would you like to use spotsy?
resu 12y ago
I don't have an iphone and can't try the app. Is it similar to http://smwh.re http://smwh.re and http://www.travyde.com/explore http://www.travyde.com/explore ?
- BenjaminN 12y ago
  Hey man, thanks for linking Somewhere. Funny how Travyde totally stole my design! I'm glad their whole website is awful.
grabeh 12y ago
If I had an iPhone I'd take a gander. I like http://geophoto.grabeh.net/ http://geophoto.grabeh.net/ for looking at photos around the world, but that may have something do with the fact I built it.
- wlindner 12y ago
  Cool! Does this use the Flickr API?
  - grabeh 12y ago
    Indeed it does - via Node.js - the code is here: https://github.com/grabbeh/geoflickr https://github.com/grabbeh/geoflickr
sixQuarks 12y ago
Not really useful when so many geolocated images are so random. I don't necessarily want to see people's selfies or food pictures if I'm trying to see pics from a certain location.
- ahmadss 12y ago
  please do provide some feedback / insight on what you'd like to see. thanks!
  - sixQuarks 12y ago
    Well, if I'm just wanting to check out photos, I want to see actual photos of the places. Not people taking selfies, close-up shots of food, or photos that are not relevant. The value of spotsy, however, is that you get to see which local spots have the most instagram photos associated with it, which provides value in a different sort of way. I can see the usefulness of the app in that regard, but not as a photo browsing app.
josephjrobison 12y ago
In a way this is kind of a workaround to the original Color app idea right? Not exactly the same, but color wanted you do be able to see photos of other people around you that weren't your friends, kind of the same concept, which is cool.
- wlindner 12y ago
  Yeah, there are definitely similarities to what Color was trying to do. Originally I made the app to only see photos close by, but realized most users wanted to see other places. It also uses Instagram photos so there's already a ton of useful content, unlike Color's approach.
sixQuarks 12y ago
Not really useful when so many geolocated images are so random. I don't necessarily want to see people's selfies or food pictures if I'm trying to see pics from a certain location.
limsup 12y ago
the flip book animation/interaction is top notch. good job!
- wlindner 12y ago
  Thanks! My good friend @alexsailer did a killer job on designing the app and interactions. I modified this example to create the effect: http://corgitoergosum.net/2013/03/16/from-js-to-uicollectionview-building-a-custom-roulette-wheel-stack-control-in-ios/ http://corgitoergosum.net/2013/03/16/from-js-to-uicollection...
hnriot 12y ago
this needs an image classifier, which is not so easy to build.
nanidin 12y ago
I'll check this out - I had a similar idea last summer while attending large festivals. That it would have been nice to see what people were posting on instagram around me. I'll give this a try next time I'm in a populated area!
lalos 12y ago
A good lesson people can learn from your app is that you offer a good chunk of functionality and what to expect before logging in and that motivates the end user to login and keep on browsing. Awesome work!
- wlindner 12y ago
  Yeah, that was an important feature for onboarding new users. I wish people didn't have to log in, but Instagram (understandably) has API limits that require logging in once you have a lot of activity.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

34 points by wlindner 12y ago

Nice work. I've always wondered why Instagram has made it so difficult to find photos by location. Update: why do you require my Instagram username/pwd when they support OAuth? Not a fan

wlindner 12y ago
RE not using OAuth: I did that because users had a lot of trouble using the oauth login, so I basically just pass the users credentials to the oauth page. If you prefer oauth just press "Forgot Password" in the login popup and press the go back link, it will bring you to the standard Instagram login and will work the same.
- bitsweet 12y ago
  that worked. I'd probably feel comfortable if there was just a disclaimer that said you don't store credentials on the login page. I'm probably too trusting but I like it when product designers are thoughtful enough to explain what is done with credentials/data.
wlindner 12y ago
Thanks! The app was designed by @alexsailer and developed by me, @wlindner. I've always wondered the same thing, and I think it's because all of the location data in the Instagram app comes from Foursquare. It would be really competitive with Foursquare if Instagram could search locations, so I don't think Foursquare will let them. That being said, all of this could change with Facebook places instead of Foursquare locations: http://www.fastcompany.com/3028166/instagram-testing-facebook-places-integration-to-replace-foursquare http://www.fastcompany.com/3028166/instagram-testing-faceboo...

michaelchum 12y ago

Wow, this is nicely done, very neat. Great job! Just out of curiosity, is this a native app? I really like the animations of the modal windows, I wonder how you made them so awesome!

wlindner 12y ago
Thanks a lot! Yes, it is a native ios app. For animations I used https://github.com/zrxq/UIView-EasingFunctions/ https://github.com/zrxq/UIView-EasingFunctions/ For animations, it's very important to use the right easing function to make it fit the feeling you want to evoke. For instance, I used a keyframe animation for the login modal when you close it to not log in. It evokes a feeling of disappointment because it awkwardly swings down because you are not logging in :)

cdevroe 12y ago

I've been looking for an application like this for a while now. I had toyed with a few that simply didn't fit. Now I have an application that will help me plan kayaking trips, vacations, events, etc. Great work!

wlindner 12y ago
Wow, that is so awesome to hear! I hope you enjoy using the app.

danso 12y ago

Instagram's search-by-geo-coordinates endpoint is one feature that makes the API so valuable and interesting...Other services have it, of course, but Instagram's version has higher value because geolocation is turned on by default...I read somewhere that maybe 2-5% of Tweets have geodata, whereas Instagram content is at 30 to 50%. The investigative newsroom ProPublica (disclosure: my former employer) had a fun use-case, in which they knew of a lobbyist-politician ski resort retreat, looked up the location of the resort, and then used Instagram's location/date filters to see who was on the trip (at least one lobbyist posted a photo from their own publicly identifiable account): http://www.propublica.org/nerds/item/a-super-simple-tool-to-search-instagram-by-time-and-location http://www.propublica.org/nerds/item/a-super-simple-tool-to-...

maxerickson 12y ago
We need to develop a social norm that sharing something is not necessarily permission to publicize it. There's lots of contexts where it is probably fine, but I think there are also quite some contexts where it isn't so fine. I'm not trying to get up on a high horse and preach, it's just kind of gross to completely change the sort of attention that is being directed at something that someone shared. I know that some of the response to this will be to not post it publicly if you don't want people to see it, but that's exactly the thought I want to push back against, just because something is available at a public url doesn't mean it is a cool thing to point reddit at it.
- danso 12y ago
  I agree that social norms need to become better (i.e., people need to be better and more decent), but you have to consider why publicizing this info (not in this particular case, but for any given person and any given content) is not considered illegal in the United States, currently: such a law would almost certainly be used to squash freedom of expression. This has been the case long before Instagram and the Internet becoming mainstream, including the denial of requests for public government records and the photography of police actions on the purported concern for privacy. I know you're only talking about social norms...but such things influence and are influenced by law and regulations...I'm just pointing out that it doesn't exist in a vacuum.

pixelcort 12y ago

In Tokyo it's just pictures of food. I wonder if there was a way to detect pictures of food automatically so it could be filtered out.

wlindner 12y ago
I know what you mean, it sounds like you want to search or explore by categories. So, when you want to see landmarks, you only see those, but if you wanted to see food, you could filter by that as well. Thanks for the feedback. Also, these results will be different at different times of day.
- spike021 12y ago
  Not sure exactly how your app works but maybe you can use the API to check for tags on each photo you load. If any tag contains some word that would relate to food, then just don't load/display it.
  - wlindner 12y ago
    I think it's more about finding out what type of location it is: restaurant, bar, club, park, concert venue, whatever. Then filter by that. Rather than the individual photos. But I like the idea of a "no food pics" option :) Instagram is infamous for stuff like that.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
ahmadss 12y ago
as mentioned in an earlier post, mind sharing what else you'd like to see instead of food? how else would you like to use spotsy?

resu 12y ago

I don't have an iphone and can't try the app. Is it similar to http://smwh.re http://smwh.re and http://www.travyde.com/explore http://www.travyde.com/explore ?

BenjaminN 12y ago
Hey man, thanks for linking Somewhere. Funny how Travyde totally stole my design! I'm glad their whole website is awful.

grabeh 12y ago

If I had an iPhone I'd take a gander. I like http://geophoto.grabeh.net/ http://geophoto.grabeh.net/ for looking at photos around the world, but that may have something do with the fact I built it.

wlindner 12y ago
Cool! Does this use the Flickr API?
- grabeh 12y ago
  Indeed it does - via Node.js - the code is here: https://github.com/grabbeh/geoflickr https://github.com/grabbeh/geoflickr

sixQuarks 12y ago

Not really useful when so many geolocated images are so random. I don't necessarily want to see people's selfies or food pictures if I'm trying to see pics from a certain location.

ahmadss 12y ago
please do provide some feedback / insight on what you'd like to see. thanks!
- sixQuarks 12y ago
  Well, if I'm just wanting to check out photos, I want to see actual photos of the places. Not people taking selfies, close-up shots of food, or photos that are not relevant. The value of spotsy, however, is that you get to see which local spots have the most instagram photos associated with it, which provides value in a different sort of way. I can see the usefulness of the app in that regard, but not as a photo browsing app.

josephjrobison 12y ago

In a way this is kind of a workaround to the original Color app idea right? Not exactly the same, but color wanted you do be able to see photos of other people around you that weren't your friends, kind of the same concept, which is cool.

wlindner 12y ago
Yeah, there are definitely similarities to what Color was trying to do. Originally I made the app to only see photos close by, but realized most users wanted to see other places. It also uses Instagram photos so there's already a ton of useful content, unlike Color's approach.

sixQuarks 12y ago

Not really useful when so many geolocated images are so random. I don't necessarily want to see people's selfies or food pictures if I'm trying to see pics from a certain location.

limsup 12y ago

the flip book animation/interaction is top notch. good job!

wlindner 12y ago
Thanks! My good friend @alexsailer did a killer job on designing the app and interactions. I modified this example to create the effect: http://corgitoergosum.net/2013/03/16/from-js-to-uicollectionview-building-a-custom-roulette-wheel-stack-control-in-ios/ http://corgitoergosum.net/2013/03/16/from-js-to-uicollection...

hnriot 12y ago

this needs an image classifier, which is not so easy to build.

nanidin 12y ago

I'll check this out - I had a similar idea last summer while attending large festivals. That it would have been nice to see what people were posting on instagram around me. I'll give this a try next time I'm in a populated area!

lalos 12y ago

A good lesson people can learn from your app is that you offer a good chunk of functionality and what to expect before logging in and that motivates the end user to login and keep on browsing. Awesome work!

wlindner 12y ago
Yeah, that was an important feature for onboarding new users. I wish people didn't have to log in, but Instagram (understandably) has API limits that require logging in once you have a lot of activity.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]