BlockChalk - location-based anonymous notes

[lmorchard]

Since it looks like my Oblique Strategies app submission wasn't a total failure, I'll try my next one! This is a very alpha v0.5 release, so any comments or feedback are very welcome!

Update (v1.0.3): Now released to App Catalog! Small tweaks made to menus and network progress timeouts per Palm feedback.

Update (v1.0.1): App Catalog release candidate. Profanity filter on by default; chalk bury now presents a confirmation dialog; chalkbacks are allowed only from your current GPS location

Update (v1.0.0): App Catalog release candidate - please update and beat the crap out of this version! Added a preferences scene; chalkback support; attached location support; now showing location and chalkback icons in lists; profanity filter support

Update (v0.6.5): Enabled replies to replies, revised the help scene to work like other webOS apps.

Update (v0.6.4): Needed a fix to the fix for invalid user IDs. Also attempting to prevent duplicate chalks and replies being created. Fun times!

BlockChalk

BlockChalk (BlockChalk) is the voice of your neighborhood. You can use it to talk to anyone, about anything. It’s like a virtual graffiti wall, a community bulletin board, and a poster-covered lightpost, all rolled into one.

Using the GPS in your device, it shows you messages that other people have left at the place you’re standing, and it lets you leave your own messages, too. It’s anonymous unless you decide to share more. You can even privately reply to other users while still remaining anonymous.

While BlockChalk was originally a aimed at iPhone users, this is an application using the new BlockChalk API (BlockChalk - developers developers developers developers) to make the service available on your favorite webOS device.

As an MIT-licensed Open Source application, you can find the source code here:

http://github.com/lmorchard/blockchalk-webos/

[summer smile]

What a great idea - this looks like it will be a ton of fun. Can't wait to install it and give it a whirl.

[Mhunterjr]

this is quite a creative idea..

[summer smile]

Nice UI - it looks really sharp with the black and white!

Now I just have to wait for someone else to chalk something around here.

Looking forward to trying this out at different sites. Thank you for your time and hard work!

[lmorchard]

Originally Posted by summer smile

Nice UI - it looks really sharp with the black and white!

Thanks! I was trying to match the original site's feel a bit, while still using webOS widgets and whatnot. I'm hoping the command menu buttons aren't too hard to figure out, since there's no text and just icons. But, I managed to fit pretty much the whole site's functionality (so far) into the command menu

[un_designer]

Neat idea! One thing I'm not clear on is the meaning of "the place you're standing"

Does "the place" an area that covers a few blocks? A mile?

[lmorchard]

Originally Posted by un_designer

Neat idea! One thing I'm not clear on is the meaning of "the place you're standing"

Does "the place" an area that covers a few blocks? A mile?

The concept is kind of purposefully fuzzy, and I'm personally kind of fuzzy on it. I think where you're standing is within a hundred feet or so, and results extend out from there to about 2 miles on a list of chalks near you. I might have that radius wrong though.

[boredwopre]

i wish there was a way to bypass the initial loacation. if you are in a building its hard to pick up the gps. maybe typing in zip or city instead.

[un_designer]

@boredwopre, I think that you can put in a manual location like cross streets by including it in [square brackets]

I went to the real site to get more information and that's what it said. But like lmorchard said, this whole thing is kind of a bit fuzzy still. I like it, but don't fully have a mental model in my head that's entirely clear.

[TriadThinker]

What a nice app, and great idea. Now I just need other people on my block to get it. Thanks!

[lmorchard]

Originally Posted by boredwopre

i wish there was a way to bypass the initial loacation. if you are in a building its hard to pick up the gps. maybe typing in zip or city instead.

Well, the thing is that blockchalk.com wants as accurate a position as possible, and to make it harder to pretend to be somewhere you're not. It's certainly not impossible to do that, but they don't want it to be super simple to enter arbitrary locations.

[lmorchard]

Originally Posted by un_designer

@boredwopre, I think that you can put in a manual location like cross streets by including it in [square brackets]

I went to the real site to get more information and that's what it said. But like lmorchard said, this whole thing is kind of a bit fuzzy still. I like it, but don't fully have a mental model in my head that's entirely clear.

The [square brackets] thing is actually in addition to your GPS location. The service wants to be fuzzy with GPS coords so as to help protect anonymity to some degree, while the square brackets lets you voluntarily provide a more exact location - say, if you were having a garage sale or party open to the neighborhood.

[Spyral]

I'm really excited to try this. It seems hampered, of course, by the users location. I'm sure there will be more 'chalks' in a busy metropolitan area, vs. a rural area or small town.

[cashen]

very nice UI!

hope it catches on!

Could you expand your block? there are none except me.

[Habidabad]

Neat app and I hope that others use it very soon!

I noticed that every time I click "Where Am I?" from the drop down menu, I always get an errorCode.

I also noticed that it doesn't recognize character symbols. I tried to put in "Palm Prē" and it showed up as "Palm Pr?"!

Another question, since this works with the website, does this pull all chalks from all devices or just from Palm Prē users?

Clever site too! LOL!
Lost croc? Call 911.
Sell your pot? NOT BlockChalk.

[Habidabad]

Originally Posted by un_designer

I think that you can put in a manual location like cross streets by including it in [square brackets]

I went to the real site to get more information and that's what it said.

I looked through the entire site (on my laptop) and couldn't find anything about this. Do you have a direct link to the page or could you show an example of how you should chalk this type of post? (lol-you tweet on twitter and now you chalk on blockchalk)

[JerryG]

@lmorchard -

Nice app, thank you very much.

Got first chalk in my neighborhood... Put in an intersection near my job and found 4 chalks, cool.

I'm not one for using sites like Twitter, and Facebook, but this I like!

Thanks again,

-JerryG

[Paladin]

I just posted "Get off my lawn" from my living room. I know no one will probably see it (house is not accessible by walking to it, on busy street) but it struck me as funny for some reason. ii

[gsubah]

When i try and install it doesnt completly install, when it gets to the point where it asks for device type i chose sprint and hit ok but then when it starts installing i get an error message that says java.io.FileNotFoundExceptions: http://palm.cdnetworks.net/staging/r...0ewwsprint.jar

[lmorchard]

Originally Posted by Habidabad

Neat app and I hope that others use it very soon!

I noticed that every time I click "Where Am I?" from the drop down menu, I always get an errorCode.

Hmm... What is the error code you're seeing? It should be showing the current location as JSON. Not very friendly yet, but it shouldn't be an error.

Originally Posted by Habidabad

I also noticed that it doesn't recognize character symbols. I tried to put in "Palm Prē" and it showed up as "Palm Pr?"!

Yep, that's a bug with the site itself, and they're working on it.

Originally Posted by Habidabad

Another question, since this works with the website, does this pull all chalks from all devices or just from Palm Prē users?

It pulls chalks from all devices.

Originally Posted by Habidabad

Clever site too! LOL!
Lost croc? Call 911.
Sell your pot? NOT BlockChalk.

The guys behind the site are pretty keen. (Not me, I'm just an app hacker.)