Orbis - Geolocation Social Network and Collaborative Urban Mapping

Abstract

The emergence of neo-geography, also known as collaborative mapping, in recent decades has greatly expanded the process of involving ordinary people in mapping activities, resulting in blurring the distinctions between producer, communicator and consumer of geographic information; The term emphasizes, in fact, the birth of a new geography made by non-expert users, the neo-geographers, collectively producing maps by web and mobile applications, thanks to technological advances. People are increasingly involved in crowdsourcing geographic data such as human sensors and geoinformation producers by creating georeferenced posts like Foursquare, producing their own maps like Ushahidi and Google My Maps, or contributing to collective maps like OpenStreetMap, Wikimapia. However, despite the potential of existing map-based tools, the way technology has supported collaboration among citizens who share common habits is still untapped. Therefore, the objective of the project is to create a tool that enables its users to participate in the creation and mapping of urban personality groups, through dynamic circles representing social groups that mark their presence in a given geographical area on the digital map. The biggest news is the fact that the circles increase and decrease in circumference according to the number of people present in a specific place. This allows users to open a digital map and see where in the region specific communities of people are gathering for a variety of real-time activities by viewing a bubbly social map. We propose to develop Orbis, a social networking site and mobile app (Android and iOS) geolocation network. Users in the capacity of representatives of social communities participate in an ephemeral digital territory dispute driven by the collaborative mapping of the location of personality groups in their region. Orbis can be compared to social networks like Facebook, Foursquare and maps like Google maps, but it has the added value of being targeted at communities of interest and always contextualized at the city scale. The first phase of the project will consist of:1. Identify and implement changes in user experience based on testing and results obtained during the minimum viable product trial phase.2. Optimization of algorithms to increase the response speed of backend servers and provide a more fluid and instant user experience. 3. Migration of architecture and source code to react-native to facilitate agile and constant development of new features.4. Implement the advertising strategy by optimizing online search engine acquisition channels. The expected results for the implementation of this project are: by the end of 9 months, having a final prototype running with a user retention rate of at least 30% after 3 months of use, a user base large enough to start monetize the platform, and scale-up the solution with third party investment. Another reason for designing Orbis is to support local public and private stakeholder activities, initiatives and projects operating in the city. Orbis technology is a collective project that aims to connect and improve coordination between local networks, improving citizen engagement and social innovation processes. (AU)