Any surfer dudes here? Check out this surf-reports app I developed
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Re: Any surfer dudes here? Check out this surf-reports app I developed
#2I surf, and also build websites. What does this actually do? Store a photo/video of a surf spot by location. Is that all? What incentive is there for people to do this?
Re: Any surfer dudes here? Check out this surf-reports app I developed
#3I surf, and also build websites. What does this actually do? Store a photo/video of a surf spot by location. Is that all? What incentive is there for people to do this?
If many surfers start doing this, you would soon be able to check [close to] real-time surf conditions from anywhere in the world by simply going to the website.
It's kinda crowd-sourcing of surfcams (coz those don't really deliver)
Re: Any surfer dudes here? Check out this surf-reports app I developed
#4I surf plenty. While this idea seems nice in theory, community surf reporting is very tricky. The entire culture of surfing is an exclusionary one. People do not want other surfers on their break taking their waves. There is no incentive to tell everybody that your particular spot has excellent conditions because you want the least amount of other people around.
The only site that I have seen that is able to somewhat get people to provide reports is www.stokereport.com, a bay area surf/social networking site. They had to institute a word filter that masks the specific names of breaks, and they will ban you if you repeatedly violate calling out spots [1].
[1] http://stokereport.com/content/what-are-community-standards-...
Re: Any surfer dudes here? Check out this surf-reports app I developed
#5I surf plenty. While this idea seems nice in theory, community surf reporting is very tricky. The entire culture of surfing is an exclusionary one. People do not want other surfers on their break taking their waves. There is no incentive to tell everybody that your particular spot has excellent conditions because you want the least amount of other people around. The only site that I have seen that is able to somewhat…
That's not the first time I get feedback in this spirit. And I can somehow understand the motive. However, it is very narrow-minded, don't you think? You can look at it the other way around -- let's say I check the site for conditions in a certain spot and see it's packed. Surf is awesome but it's already packed. So I go elsewhere... if I hadn't seen this report I would have come and add myself to the already packed lineup.
Re: Any surfer dudes here? Check out this surf-reports app I developed
#6I'm a reformed surfer (not many good waves in Washington D.C. unfortunately), but I like the idea.
I can understand the sentiment from folks who don't want to broadcast good spots, but I suspect there's a good amount of people who aren't so territorial.
When I did last surf (Steamer Lane mostly), I occasionally checked the surfline cams, but more often than not would just head down regardless.
If you ever make an iPhone version, I'll happily buy it (even if it's nowadays mostly for nostalgic reasons).
Re: Any surfer dudes here? Check out this surf-reports app I developed
#7Nice. What backend are you using?
Re: Any surfer dudes here? Check out this surf-reports app I developed
#8Nice. What backend are you using?
LAMP.
Re: Any surfer dudes here? Check out this surf-reports app I developed
#9I surf plenty. While this idea seems nice in theory, community surf reporting is very tricky. The entire culture of surfing is an exclusionary one. People do not want other surfers on their break taking their waves. There is no incentive to tell everybody that your particular spot has excellent conditions because you want the least amount of other people around. The only site that I have seen that is able to somewhat…
That's not the first time I get feedback in this spirit. And I can somehow understand the motive. However, it is very narrow-minded, don't you think? You can look at it the other way around -- let's say I check the site for conditions in a certain spot and see it's packed. Surf is awesome but it's already packed. So I go elsewhere... if I hadn't seen this report I would have come and add myself to the already packed…
Other reactions to an awesome but crowded surf report:
"This report is from 2 hrs ago, hopefully they've all gone in by now"
"I'm an agressive surfer, I'll get waves regardless of how many people are out there"
"I'll hit this at sunrise tomorrow"
Re: Any surfer dudes here? Check out this surf-reports app I developed
#10Nice one. Maybe a photo or video of a spot isn't enough. You could allow users to contribute optional info on the conditions, like how often sets are coming through, wind etc and maybe a rating.