[Geowanking] BlockChalk - simple API for proximity-based messaging

[Stephen Hood]

Hi everyone --

I've been lurking here for a while but now have something relevant to  
share and would love your feedback...

I've created a system for proximity-based messaging called  
BlockChalk.  Point your iPhone or Android browser to http://blockchalk.com 
  to see the HTML5 mobile web client.  There's also a webOS app for  
Palm Pre/Pixi and an iPhone app on the way (currently in Apple's  
approval process) which adds a bunch of capabilities.

There is a very easy API (http://blockchalk.com/developers) that gives  
you full read and write access to the underlying platform.

BlockChalk lets you leave messages where you're standing and view  
messages left by other people in your immediate vicinity or current  
neighborhood (as calculated from your mobile device's GPS coords).   
The goal I'm building towards is enabling conversations and  
transactions between neighbors while retaining control over how much  
identity and location information is shared at any given time.  Right  
now the system is anonymous (you don't even need to sign up) and it  
deals less with exact locations and more with regions of proximity,  
like "this block, "within a few blocks", and "in the Mission District".

So far the main consumers of our API have been our own native client  
apps, but we're starting to see outside use and want to amplify it.   
I'd love to hear what you guys think and any suggestions or ideas you  
might have.

Thanks and enjoy!

Stephen Hood
BlockChalk



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