GeoPin: Connecting the dots

GeoPin is born out of a series of observations and revelations about things we used to take for granted and things we used to overlook.

Observation #1: The importance of the digital map
It was during a road trip that we took from San Jose to Santa Monica, that we realized the importance of the digital map. We had just previously moved from the furthest point on the East Coast, New York City, to the further point on the West Coast, Silicon Valley. As we drove around in a borrowed car on unfamiliar roads, we suddenly realized how important maps are to our lives. It’s amazing how maps enable us to fit into new places and new cities. We cannot imagine ourselves navigating cities and countries without maps; they are necessary.

Observation #2: The constraint of not having alternatives
As we were driving and using maps to navigate, we started seeing some purple pins very prominently on Google Maps, with the famous golden arch advertising for McDonald’s, then a few more miles, another purple pin for Walgreens, and a sliding-up panel for a coupon of $1 off for contact lenses at Walgreens. None of us are very big fans of McDonald’s and no one wears contact lenses. Since when did Google Maps show ads? Google recently launched a service called “Promoted Pins”. As the number of corporations signing up for Promoted Pins increases over time, will our only viable option for a digital map become cluttered with irrelevant ads like our websites? Note that in their Terms of Service, Google reserves the right to show ads the way they want without giving users an option to opt out.

Observation #3: The need for real-time local information
I love working in coffee shops. In New York City, I have a few favorite coffee shops that I know for sure once I get there I can start focusing on my work: they have wifi, power outlets for my extended hours on my laptop, and they do have bathrooms. Since I moved to Silicon Valley, it has been a real trial-and-error process: I would go to a coffee shop, intending to work there for the afternoon, and then realize that the place doesn’t have electrical outlets or bathrooms. I love going to farmer’s markets but the pop-up or transient nature of those markets makes them nonexistent on Google Maps. On Halloween, our team wanted to go to a party in the area but did not know where or which one. Sadly, we had not made friends with the right locals to tell us about cool things in our new neighborhood that are not captured on Google Maps, for example a local farmer market that meets every other week at a street corner, or parties and cultural events in the local area, etc.

What if we can have a map that, in addition to assisting with navigation, also shows local destinations, events, and local specialities curated by the locals themselves in real-time. It’s going to be THE ONE MAP that helps us navigate our streets as well as our lives (where to have dinner, where to get fresh local groceries, where to get a Korean haircut, where to hang out and socialize, …) with best tips directly from local people.

Observation #4: A vibrant world-wide crowdsourcing community on a mission
As our heads were occupied with all the navigation and discovery problems that came with settling in a new city, we stumbled upon OpenStreetMap. OpenStreetMap is a crowdsourcing project started almost 13 years ago claiming hundreds of thousands of volunteers around the world contributing one road, one street, one building, etc. at a time with the mission to map the whole world. Though a grassroot and fully volunteer-based project, OpenStreetMap actually achieves better data quality than Google Maps in many places, especially in less developed areas. To date, the OpenStreetMap community has made millions of map edits and put millions of the world’s most vulnerable people and places on the map, helping international organizations, governments, and first responders to locate and assist people in need in the event of natural disasters, terrorism, and crises.

OpenStreetMap is filling in this gap that even Google Maps with a yearly budget of $1 billion and 10,000 employees and contractors can’t fulfill.
“Geospatial data is a project that’s too big to solve by a single commercial entity with a business model based on commercializing that data. Open collaboration around global map data is the future of maps. That’s it.” — Alex Barth, who heads data at Mapbox.

But OpenStreetMap’s growth is currently hindered by the slow growth in map contributions and map contributors.
Observation #5: The ingenuity of the blockchain-enabled token model
In-game tokens have long existed, but the blockchain came along to give birth to a whole new innovative business model that is based on tokens. The trustless and tamper-proof properties of the blockchain allow tokens to become the trusted and solid building blocks of an economy, either it’s a society-wide economy or a micro-economy of a business venture.

The token business model enables the kind of network effect much needed for any crowd-based endeavor, both for-profit and non-profit. Tokens incentivize more people to contribute to a common good because their contributions can now be accounted for in any small increment, and in a transparent and real-time manner. Tokens also incentivize contributors to join early (which is much needed for the inherent “chicken and egg” problem of a platform or community-driven business) because the token mechanism naturally rewards contributors who come early with more value for their contributions.

Connecting all dots

The map is the most used application by people everywhere: One third of the world population (or 2 billion people) uses a digital map. And when Google Maps is your only viable choice, you need to put up with their rules.
We can use the ingenuity of the blockchain-enabled token model to incentivize more contributors to contribute to the open-sourced OpenStreetMap database to get more of the world mapped, to save lives, and to give us all a viable alternative to Google Maps.

We can provide everyone with real-time local information curated by the locals themselves. Interesting local destinations, events, and specialties curated and organized into different PinChannels around different specific interests. Anyone can subscribe to PinChannels of their interest and start seeing real-time local pins on their map that help them get oriented, navigate, and make the most of where they are anywhere anytime.
Contributors who contribute map data or who curate local pins will receive GeoPin’s tokens of appreciation as well as GeoPin’s native blockchain-based tokens.

The GeoPin network will receive a large money inflow to support our social venture by letting corporations, government agencies, and application developers to access our vibrant contributor and user base in a very targeted and relevant manner without compromising our user data and privacy. This money inflow will provide utility to our contributors (or token holders) by affording them discount for goods and services at destinations on GeoPin and in Geo Pin-enabled applications.