Social web meetup: Runningmap and Smibs

December 9, 2008 9:45 pm 4 comments

On Thursday I braved the first real taste of winter we’ve had in Edmonton and went to the Social Web Meetup to check out what Randy Troppmann of Runningmap.com and Peter Urban of smibs.com had to say.

Randy described how he started Runningmap, a map site that allows you to plot your jogging routes. He delved into how the software worked and I think everyone was pretty impressed. I think a few people were surprised that he used Yahoo for his maps and not the seemingly ubiquitous Google.

Yahoo got nothing but praise from Randy for their approachability and willingness to work with him to make changes to their software, something that Google might not be so willing to do.

Looking at his software from a user perspective, I can see why people would like it. It allows you to easily draw up customized route maps and view the elevation and distances. I haven’t used the software (not being a jogger) but I plan to tinker with it. The social media element to the software is that you can share the routes and upload photos.

While I may not be a jogger, I don’t see why you couldn’t use this same software to plan walks, hikes, mountain climbing, cycling, automobile trips and more. Why limit it to jogging?

It sounds like there are some interesting plans afoot for this cool site. It is definitely worth checking out.

Smibs ringing the Doorbell

Peter Urban gave us a demo of his Doorbell software, explained what Smibs is all about and gave us all a copy of his “unbusiness plan.” Peter’s approach to everything seems a little unconventional which, when you’re trying to grow your business, can be a good thing.

It’s kind of a collaborative tool that is useful for keeping track of what you have to do every day. I like the idea of being able to keep track of projects in one spot. I’ve found it to be a bit of pain working on different projects simultaneously because everyone uses a different project management tool.

There’s a lot more to it, and I plan on exploring it. I’ve signed up and haven’t had a chance to really tinker with it. It’s in public beta, so check it out. I’m curious what you think of it, and I’m sure Peter would love to get your feedback too.

NAIT

I almost forgot to mention the great location for the Meetup. This time it was at NAIT’s HP Centre. It worked really nicely because it seems like it’s only a five minute drive for me. That’s not the only advantage. It was a good, central location, though the weather didn’t seem to be cooperating. Parking, my eternal frustration, was certainly not an issue at NAIT.

Not sure where the next Meetup is, but I’m looking forward to it. It’ll be nice to get out in January and try to avoid cabin fever.

Alain Saffel

  • http://www.smibs.com/ Peter Urban

    I loved the meetup. Great people, inspiring conversation in a relaxed a aatmosphere and a very fitting location. I am looking forward to the next one :-) .

  • http://www.smibs.com Peter Urban

    I loved the meetup. Great people, inspiring conversation in a relaxed a aatmosphere and a very fitting location. I am looking forward to the next one :-) .

  • http://smibs.com/net/forrest-zeisler Forrest Zeisler

    I met some great people. Since the meetup Randy has been helping me with some flash, and I’ve been interacting with many of the other members through twitter and facebook. I can’t recommend this group enough.

  • http://smibs.com/net/forrest-zeisler Forrest Zeisler

    I met some great people. Since the meetup Randy has been helping me with some flash, and I've been interacting with many of the other members through twitter and facebook. I can't recommend this group enough.