Just launched geo.gy - a location shortener • Hacker News Board

Just launched geo.gy - a location shortener

#1

Post by ypodim » Mon, Jun 20, 2011, 5:23 AM UTC

Just launched geo.gy - a location shortener
geo.gy

Re: Just launched geo.gy - a location shortener

#2

Post by bostonvaulter2 » Mon, Jun 20, 2011, 6:02 AM UTC

This looks cool and could be handy. I wonder how many phones could easily use this link for navigation though. Currently I use glympse if I want to tell people where I am so they can meet up with me or pick me up.

Re: Just launched geo.gy - a location shortener

#3

Post by korbinus » Mon, Jun 20, 2011, 6:04 AM UTC

It simple and clean, the name is good, I like it.

Re: Just launched geo.gy - a location shortener

#4

Post by krisrak » Mon, Jun 20, 2011, 6:15 AM UTC

bostonvaulter2 wrote: post #2

This looks cool and could be handy. I wonder how many phones could easily use this link for navigation though. Currently I use glympse if I want to tell people where I am so they can meet up with me or pick me up.

try http://shaloc.com, iphone app

Re: Just launched geo.gy - a location shortener

#5

Post by JeremyBanks » Mon, Jun 20, 2011, 6:31 AM UTC

Does it work on smart phones?

Re: Just launched geo.gy - a location shortener

#6

Post by ypodim » Mon, Jun 20, 2011, 6:34 AM UTC

krisrak wrote: post #4

bostonvaulter2 wrote: post #2

This looks cool and could be handy. I wonder how many phones could easily use this link for navigation though. Currently I use glympse if I want to tell people where I am so they can meet up with me or pick me up.

try http://shaloc.com , iphone app

Thanks for the heads-up. Being based on HTML5, geo.gy is platform-independent

Re: Just launched geo.gy - a location shortener

#7

Post by nl » Mon, Jun 20, 2011, 6:40 AM UTC

You could/should make the URL be a GeoHash [1]

GeoHash's have the extremely attractive property that shorter versions of the same URL correspond to larger areas around the same point - ie, you can trade precision for size.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geohash#Example

Re: Just launched geo.gy - a location shortener

#8

Post by juanre » Mon, Jun 20, 2011, 7:01 AM UTC

Very nice. We did something very similar some years ago, http://notamap.com, with the idea of making it very easy to save maps with notes and embed them on your web. No sign-up, no database storing your data: everything is encoded in the URL you keep. A pity we never really polished it, nor tried to promote it. It has a small but faithful user base.

Re: Just launched geo.gy - a location shortener

#9

Post by juanre » Mon, Jun 20, 2011, 7:24 AM UTC

bostonvaulter2 wrote: post #2

This looks cool and could be handy. I wonder how many phones could easily use this link for navigation though. Currently I use glympse if I want to tell people where I am so they can meet up with me or pick me up.

If you want to do something similar with an iPhone, you should check Milestones, http://alandair.com/milestones. Keep and share geolocated notes, possibly with photo, via Twitter/Twitpic and email (KMZ for Google Earth). Backup as a Google Fusion Table, with photos sent to Picasaweb. (Disclaimer: Milestones is my fault. Working now on recovering from the Fusion Table backup, and adding social awareness.)

Re: Just launched geo.gy - a location shortener

#10

Post by dave1010uk » Mon, Jun 20, 2011, 7:29 AM UTC

nl wrote: post #7

You could/should make the URL be a GeoHash [1] GeoHash's have the extremely attractive property that shorter versions of the same URL correspond to larger areas around the same point - ie, you can trade precision for size. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geohash#Example

Geohash also doesn't require a database to lookup hashes - all you need is the formula. The only disadvantage seems to be the slightly longer URLs.