wherewelanding

A solution to the lack of third spaces and community in cities. A way for many people to coordinate where to cross paths.

https://222.place/

Problem & project idea

There are a lot of disconnected, lonely people in Madison, WI. It is not easy to find communities and non-ephemeral friends.

Project idea: Where We Landing

A lightweight way for people to intersect in real life by choosing a shared spawn point near their routine. The name is a Fortnite reference.

• Set time. Set place. Set mission. Set identifier.
• Example: "Go to the coffee shop at 6pm, wear something purple."
• If no one is there, buy a cup of coffee and go home. Not out of the way.
• People are always moving; if groups agree to intersect at the same point, there is a higher chance of running into people and meeting.
• Hosts can create regular meetups (e.g., community organizers).

Current focus (MVP)

• Launch a fun, Fortnite-inspired front page with the Battle Bus vibe.
• Start with a single map: a software meetup in Madison, WI.
• Let verified users drop pins and see who else picked the same location.
• Keep the map live so activity can change at any time.
• Move the pilot map to its own page (/map).

Future ideas

• Per-map AI that answers questions about group members and constraints.
• Pin TTL (e.g., 2 weeks) so old drops expire automatically.

Evidence from the community

People keep asking where to meet, how to make friends, and how to find regular activities:

• Where do Black people hang out?
• Starting informal coding meetup
• Group weightlifting/strength training class
• Developing walkable areas
• Looking for more friends
• Bar recs
• I have no friends to ask this, but...
• Low-cost or free therapy?
• Regular activities for 2nd shift
• Looking for friends
• Looking for people to hang out with
• Madisonians looking for friends

Notes

• wherewelanding.com

Deployment (Vercel)

• Framework: Next.js (App Router).
• Environment variables:
  • NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY for the Madison map.
  • NEXT_PUBLIC_FORGE_API_URL reserved for future integrations.
• Vercel settings are defined in vercel.json.
• Security notes:
  • Restrict the Google Maps API key to your Vercel domain(s) in GCP.
  • Do not commit .env to GitHub; use .env.example for templates.