manton
manton
Introducing Meridian manton.org
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jsonbecker
jsonbecker

@manton oh I love this. I stopped using Swarm/Foursquare as things just got really weird over there, and I started randomly taking pictures places and using my Photos map to know where I’ve been.

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skoobz
skoobz

@manton This is amazing! Looking forward to it.

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ezellwrites
ezellwrites

@manton This is very exciting! I've wanted to cut my teeth in iOS development with something small and focused like a niche check-in app. I'm also a big OSM fan. I might have some time to dig in later this week.

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SimonWoods
SimonWoods

@manton Oh nice! I've become frustrated with the limited knowledge held by Apple and Google re, anywhere outside of London (and even there I'd wager they're not as good as they could be). I like the idea of contributing to a locally-built database, with tools that can be trusted. As far as the real world goes, the more "indie" the better.

Also: nice example of a non-blog based Micro.blog site.

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ridwan
ridwan

@manton Interesting. If I'm reading it correctly, Meridian is not an app but an API for other apps to integrate?

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manton
manton

@ridwan Yep, it's an API and database for other apps to use. Later we might have a kind of reference app to use as an example too.

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palousegeo
palousegeo

@manton I spent my working days in the geospatial field. Now in retirement I have been using OSM to keep up the connection to my former life. This looks like another way to connect. I’ll be interested to see what I can do with it.

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manton
manton

@ezellwrites Great! One thing I haven't documented yet is that we're also running an API server at api.latl.ong for testing if you don't want to spin up your own server, which is a bit of work. It's currently loaded with Portland data for testing. Feel free to email and I can explain in more detail.

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alpower
alpower

@manton love it! I can really see how checkins could be useful for both MB and Sunlit. P.s. tiny homepage typo: 'airpots'

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manton
manton

@alpower Oops, thanks! Fixing.

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In reply to
fgtech
fgtech

@manton đź‘€ Woot! Love this. I will be keeping an eye on how it progresses.

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adamprocter
adamprocter

@manton I still live swarm and it’s semi private nature will read more but this sounds mega awesome!

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johnjohnston
johnjohnston

@manton sounds super, "feeding back into Meridian and OpenStreetMap" especially.

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joec
joec

@manton This is so freaking cool. Thank you. I don't know if you remember an old iOS app called Rego. I think it's still on the App Store. Basically, it was for people like me who wanted to keep a record of their travels (restaurants we liked, hotels we stayed at, parks, etc.) without having to broadcast it over an ad platform like Foursquare. When we came back to cities we had visited in the past, we had a nice template for places to go.

It was cool in that it saved the data for my own future reference, but I always wished I could share these findings amongst trusted friends without turning it into a data harvest opportunity for mega-corporations. Seems like Meridian might create a market for this, where sharing is open, optional, and privacy-focused.

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manton
manton

@joec I remember Rego! I’d love to see more apps like that, with a range of private and public options. Even if it’s not shared publicly, I find the check-in history really valuable to look back on.

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josephaleo
josephaleo

@manton @joec I downloaded Rego at the recommendation by someone on MB. I was hoping to dump Swarm, but Rego still needs some refining, in my opinion. Swarm, by way of FourSquare, handles my lists of places better. It’s the only reason I use either of those services.

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gregmoore
gregmoore

@manton I would love to see this power a new field on Micro.blog where we could add a location to a post. I never use check-in services because I don’t want to be tracked, or spam my every movement to people who don’t care, but the ability to share the exact location of an interesting place could help anyone who wants to visit.

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manton
manton

@gregmoore đź‘Ť That's part of the plan. I want to start with our app Sunlit first but expect these capabilities will make it to most apps as an option later.

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samgrover
samgrover

@manton That’s great! I’ve been wanting something like this since I stopped using Swarm/Foursquare. And yay for API!

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braindump
braindump

@manton Very exciting! Once this gets featured in an app a novice like me can use it feels like micro.blog then has all the main features one could want to replace basically all other social networks :) So great that it feeds back to OSM too.

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manton
manton

@adammedcalf Thanks, that's the goal! 🙂 Those of us who want to untangle ourselves from the big social networks should be able to keep all the features. Location is one of the last features that I felt locked into.

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incanus
incanus

@joec @manton Really excited about this, and I totally remember Rego. Swarm is about the last big silo I'm still actively using.

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manton
manton

@incanus Thanks! I probably need to use Rego again to get some inspiration... It's been a while. I still use Swarm all the time but don't pay close attention to the social parts of it anymore.

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