untitled map app — some kind of an update

hello!

remember how a while ago you saw a tweet about a map app, with a map that gets revealed as you walk?

and how you got a bit excited and left your email to hear some updates?

well, here's the first update

— Is this project dead?
— Is this project alive?
— Did you guys already sell to Snapchat for 30 million?

Let's find out!

untitled map app recently had a 6-month anniversary. Over time, through lengthy conversations (and many research walks), the original idea greatly developed and evolved. I documented some bits and highlights of our research and explorations, as well as my personal background that led to me to this idea in the first place, in a very long twitter thread.

untitled map app will be your helpful companion in exploring the offline world. It will be a tool that would assist you in discovering your city (or any other), and would give you your own personal map of the world.

But that's all just single player. There would inevitably be a multiplayer element to it: you'll be able to leave notes all around the city and explore what others are thinking about as they walk around. Let's say it's a more honest and less performative way to show other people what's on your mind, with the anonymity of a city. Let's say we are adding a digital layer on top on the physical world. Let's say this is AR applied to irl.

At the core of it all, we want to make it easier for like-minded people to find one another, and help people start conversations offline.

The app is close to what you might call an MVP. Gabe ran into a million of surprises and — let's call them technical challenges — to make it all work; to give you a beautiful personal map of your own particular version of your city, without killing your battery or your phone.

I believe that within a month or so we will start inviting you all into the app — slowly.

I must say that personally I think the whole thing turned out rather beautiful. Denis did an absolutely amazing job with creating a custom style of the map. I mean look at this. Look at the contrasting colors, how the city looks differently when there is no commerce on the map whatsoever, and all you have is streets, houses, parks, lakes and your own routes through it.

What else? We're doing the engineering work, we're doing further design explorations (as to what else will be possible once the foundation is in place) and we are looking into various ways of making it sustainable. So currently we're researching available funding options, from research grants to the golden piles of VC money.

We have started thinking about ways to make money with this project and grow to sustainability — because we too need to pay our bills. So, as a side note — if you want to help out, maybe if you think that we should talk to this particular person or this particular company, please do not be shy, reply to this email, give us your advice, all of it will be greatly appreciated.

If you have any questions or ideas or kind words of encouragement — again, just reply to this email; I’ll read every response.

Thank you for being with us!

— Eugene
VP of Vibes @ untitled map app