When I lived in San Francisco, I developed a hobby of looking for secret spots. For those who are unfamiliar, a secret spot is an obscure but cool location in the city. It can be a place of tremendous beauty, an intimate corner where you can bring that special someone, or just a free museum no one knows about.
One day, I took a friend to a few of my secret spots. Impressed by the experience, he calmly remarked that I should build an app around this activity. I told him this was a stupid idea. Three years later… my co-founder William and I built CityXcape- the app to find secret spots.
CityXcape shows you areas where there are secret spots.
CityXcape has been out for more than a few months now, and the app is growing and finding its niche. One of the challenges CityXcape faces is getting more secret spots onboard its platform.
This is where you can help. If you are an explorer like myself, then you probably know plenty of cool spots unknown to others. If every explorer like yourself posts a few secret spots on CityXcape, then everyone (including you) will have new spots to visit in areas all over the world.
A scout is someone who explores the city and is constantly meeting people.
I know that some of you are worried about sharing your secret spots. You don’t want people to ruin or vandalize it. I’m an explorer too. I know how it feels when a secret spot becomes mainstream and ruined by obnoxious crowds. This is why CityXcape goes out of its way to keep secret spots visible only to the right people. The app does this by using a system of worlds.
A world is a community with common values. Skaters, Surfers, Artists, Writers, etc. All these are worlds that exist within a city. CityXcape keeps a secret spot visible within a particular world. Different worlds, different secret spots. This means that if a user is in the LBGT world, he or she will not see the secret spots of Skaters.
CityXcape shows secret spots based on the community you joined.
The second way CityXcape keeps secret spots hidden is by not giving away its location until the user is close to it. What CityXcape shows instead is a map full of heat areas. The heat zones tell you what areas have secret spots. As you approach a heat area, the secret spot is revealed.
You explorers out there, all I ask is that you download the CityXcape app and post a few cool secret spots in your city. The world you should join is called Scout Life. It is a world for those who love to study and explore cities. The secret spots we cherish are free stuff, historical locations, beautiful lounges, nature getaways, and any other goodies people often ignore allow you to escape from the city.
Save your secret spots using the CityXcape app.
Help CityXcape reach the goal of growing into a community full of secret spots in every city. There should be at least 10 secret spots per city. The secret spots you post become someone else's exploration mission. The same works vice versa. Let’s all contribute and explore!
