• I went about integrating a GPS and a Digital Camera to create a new kind of website. It would combines pictures, GPS tracks and user notes. The result was walkingboss.

  • Mashup definition from wikipedia: A mashup is a website or web application that uses content from more than one source to create a completely new web application.

  • Maps are mad hot. People are enchanted by them. That’s why every second web developer has written a mashup involving the google maps api.

  • The impetus for the site was that I was going to run an ultra-marathon, and since I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to run a fricking ultra-marathon again, I wanted to preserve the memory somehow.

Mad simple steps to use the site

  • Go on a trek with your GPS
  • Snap some photos
  • Upload your GPS log and timestamped photos to the site and you’ve got an integrated track.

Lessons Learned

  • This web 2.0 isn’t all that bad after all
  • There’s mad free api’s out there: search, maps, photos, movies, music
  • Rails is a great glue for these things (and he claims to have written about glue before the linux journal article).

  • On an unrelated note: when dude arrived at the conference, he realized that the railsconf facebook didn’t have an api. He then informed us that apparently now it does. It’s pretty unreasonable to be able to throw that together in about a day. Rock on man.

  • Called out Paul Graham and nasty little problems, which are the ones that you don’t learn anything from. Luckily rails helps you avoid the nasty little problems and keep the momentum going.

  • Check out http://walkingboss.com to get into the beta!

Dude seems mad genuine. Much love.