Testing Phase Project Proposal: StP 'Travel Guides' (1 Viewer)

[Matt Derrick]

Hey folks, just throwing out another idea here to see if people would be interested before I start investing a lot of time into it.

This time, I have a revised idea based on a previous project that I tried, the "StP Atlas". For those that don't remember, this was a section of the website where folks could post locations of interest to other travelers. Anything from abandoned locations to interesting places to explore, to useful things to know while in a particular city. It was pretty broad in it's scope, and after about 6 months only 2-3 locations had been posted, so I shut it down and wrote it off as a failure since it seemed to be an answer to a problem no one had.

Since I still own a (paid) license to the addon, I'd like to propose a different direction for that project with similar goals. Tightening the scope of the project a bit, the idea this time around would be to provide a space where users could create pages for towns/cities/villages they are familiar with or come across in their travels. These guides would be a compilation of what to see, what to do, where to eat, how to get around town, where to sleep, etc. I'm open to any other categories folks want information on as well.

So (hopefully) a StP user would come along and hit the "add location" button and fill out whatever info they can, and later other users can either edit that info or comment on the page and contribute more information. These locations would be divided into categories by region/country and further sortable by almost any criteria we want, such as star rating (from reviews of that location -- a separate thing you can do from commenting), state, number of comments, etc... the criteria available for sorting is pretty broad.

here's a decent example someone contributed on the previous version of this:

London - Camden Town

Camden Town, district of northwest London, England

squattheplanet.com

So yeah, if folks thinks this is something that would be useful let me know. Is this something you would contribute to? Even if you wouldn't, please vote in the poll (you can choose multiple options) so i know whether to waste my time or not. Not trying to be negative here, just saying, this failed once already so if folks aren't going to use it, I need to take it off my plate of StP 'things to do' so I can work on other StP projects.

 

[Coywolf]

Ita a great idea. I would be able to contribute info on places I have been. Would really be helpful to people, not having to wade through the 'Where to' section to find the info they need on a city. Sometimes it takes reading multiple threads in that section to get the info you want about a city.

 

[TheUndeadPhoenix]

Will we be able to tell people to avoid certain places for certain reasons as well? Like for example I want to be able to tell people to stay away from 14th Street in Manhattan if they plan on panhandling

 

[Coywolf]

Will we be able to tell people to avoid certain places for certain reasons as well? Like for example I want to be able to tell people to stay away from 14th Street in Manhattan if they plan on panhandling

Is this the digital version of the hobo sign? Writing the web address of the StP cities forum with a forward slash and thread specific location HTML?

But ya, I agree, this would be very use for both good, and bad aspects of an area.

 

[WyldLyfe]

It's a awesome idea, I mentioned something like this too once an said it a be cool but I said in a map format which really makes no difference an would prob just b a bit more messy for peeps, I this it has potential to be a very helpful section for the community, something everyone could contribute to a bit or a lot.

 

[Hazardoussix6six]

I said yes I would regularly but, that only applies to my city of Cincinnati, obviously lol.

 

[Matt Derrick]

It's a awesome idea, I mentioned something like this too once an said it a be cool but I said in a map format which really makes no difference an would prob just b a bit more messy for peeps, I this it has potential to be a very helpful section for the community, something everyone could contribute to a bit or a lot.

there is an option to have each page plotted on a map, per category, but not all on one map, although that feature may be coming soon.

 

[Matt Derrick]

So far it looks like this is going to pass by a wide margin, but I'm going to wait until the poll ends to spend the money and start working on it.

 

[jeejthecat]

Definitely have brief knowledge of some remote locations and more intensive knowledge of a few others. Would things need to be heavily detailed? And would it be wikipedia styled- open edits etc.?

 

[Hobomatt]

Hey folks, just throwing out another idea here to see if people would be interested before I start investing a lot of time into it.

This time, I have a revised idea based on a previous project that I tried, the "StP Atlas". For those that don't remember, this was a section of the website where folks could post locations of interest to other travelers. Anything from abandoned locations to interesting places to explore, to useful things to know while in a particular city. It was pretty broad in it's scope, and after about 6 months only 2-3 locations had been posted, so I shut it down and wrote it off as a failure since it seemed to be an answer to a problem no one had.

Since I still own a (paid) license to the addon, I'd like to propose a different direction for that project with similar goals. Tightening the scope of the project a bit, the idea this time around would be to provide a space where users could create pages for towns/cities/villages they are familiar with or come across in their travels. These guides would be a compilation of what to see, what to do, where to eat, how to get around town, where to sleep, etc. I'm open to any other categories folks want information on as well.

So (hopefully) a StP user would come along and hit the "add location" button and fill out whatever info they can, and later other users can either edit that info or comment on the page and contribute more information. These locations would be divided into categories by region/country and further sortable by almost any criteria we want, such as star rating (from reviews of that location -- a separate thing you can do from commenting), state, number of comments, etc... the criteria available for sorting is pretty broad.

here's a decent example someone contributed on the previous version of this:

London - Camden Town

Camden Town, district of northwest London, England

squattheplanet.com

So yeah, if folks thinks this is something that would be useful let me know. Is this something you would contribute to? Even if you wouldn't, please vote in the poll (you can choose multiple options) so i know whether to waste my time or not. Not trying to be negative here, just saying, this failed once already so if folks aren't going to use it, I need to take it off my plate of StP 'things to do' so I can work on other StP projects.

Is this the digital version of the hobo sign? Writing the web address of the StP cities forum with a forward slash and thread specific location HTML?

But ya, I agree, this would be very use for both good, and bad aspects of an area.

i can speak to Colorado Springs. It has a very large “ homeless industry” with the Springs Rescue Mission being the 800lb gorilla. There is quite a bit of confusion between “homeless” and “vagrants/vagabonds”. Part of that is from the Rescue Missions’ advertising (they are all”our precious neighbors”). The upshot of all this is that the Springs is rich in handouts. Lots of individuals and agencies telling people to “stay homeless” with their handouts. Lots of help here - lots of enabling. The Police have a six person “HOT Team” that deals with homeless folks. It is illegal to camp but the cops have a somewhat slow response time. Lots of folks set up and immediately figure out where the next camping spot will be. They get a week-plus in each spot. There are a couple of folks who repair and handout bicycles to homeless folks and, unfortunately, lots of stolen bikes. Lots and lots of food handouts around the Downtown area. Food not bombs does a Sunday feed at the main Library at 12:30. The main Soup Kitchen does a really big meal every day, with jars of “to go” food as you leave. There’s a homeless clinic run by the Community Health center. Many, many people flying signs, they seem to make a fair amount. Both the large shelters are doing “low barrier shelter” for when it’s cold. Very good help for those trying to get off the street but, i recently ran into three guys who had been on the street for 20+ years. Lots of people saying: “ Stay homeless”....

 

[TheUndeadPhoenix]

Is this the digital version of the hobo sign? Writing the web address of the StP cities forum with a forward slash and thread specific location HTML?

But ya, I agree, this would be very use for both good, and bad aspects of an area.

Considering most cities sandblast shit- even a single letter they consider graffiti- clean these days, I think this is how it should evolve with the times

 

[Lotus Shaped Potato]

It’d be pretty easy to find lists of laws about sleeping in vehicles and pan handling and adding those as a good start

There’s already this for the vehicle laws: camping:banned [RV and vandwellers wiki] - http://rvwiki.mousetrap.net/doku.php?id=camping:banned&utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app

 

[Hazardoussix6six]

i can speak to Colorado Springs. It has a very large “ homeless industry” with the Springs Rescue Mission being the 800lb gorilla. There is quite a bit of confusion between “homeless” and “vagrants/vagabonds”. Part of that is from the Rescue Missions’ advertising (they are all”our precious neighbors”). The upshot of all this is that the Springs is rich in handouts. Lots of individuals and agencies telling people to “stay homeless” with their handouts. Lots of help here - lots of enabling. The Police have a six person “HOT Team” that deals with homeless folks. It is illegal to camp but the cops have a somewhat slow response time. Lots of folks set up and immediately figure out where the next camping spot will be. They get a week-plus in each spot. There are a couple of folks who repair and handout bicycles to homeless folks and, unfortunately, lots of stolen bikes. Lots and lots of food handouts around the Downtown area. Food not bombs does a Sunday feed at the main Library at 12:30. The main Soup Kitchen does a really big meal every day, with jars of “to go” food as you leave. There’s a homeless clinic run by the Community Health center. Many, many people flying signs, they seem to make a fair amount. Both the large shelters are doing “low barrier shelter” for when it’s cold. Very good help for those trying to get off the street but, i recently ran into three guys who had been on the street for 20+ years. Lots of people saying: “ Stay homeless”....

I can second this, springs have always treated me well in my travels, not for flying signs but in feeds and clothing vouchers etc

 

[Matt Derrick]

Just to let everyone know, this has now been implemented, although it has been renamed to the 'travel guides' section! Go here to check it out:

Travel Guides

A compendium of strange and useful destinations for the misfit traveler.

squattheplanet.com

 

[TheUndeadPhoenix]

How does it work? If I make a guide for one city, can others contribute to it or do I have to add their information myself? When I go into to make a post, it looks similar to the profile editor

 

[Matt Derrick]

How does it work? If I make a guide for one city, can others contribute to it or do I have to add their information myself? When I go into to make a post, it looks similar to the profile editor

you can create a guide for any location you like, and yes, afterwards people can add things to it or edit what you wrote to update it. they can also just post a comment, or post a review of that location to give their opinion on it without messing up what you wrote. we also have an edit history so we know who edited what when in case someone decides to vandalize something.

 

[TheUndeadPhoenix]

Oh cool that sounds like how Wikia does it. That's what I was hoping it would be