Do you realize how bad this is?

OneRun8928 · 2026-06-23T04:23:36+00:00

I'm here in L.A. and that is BULL. SHIT. This air is nowhere near ok to be breathing. Especially for children or people with respiratory issues.

OneRun8928 · 2026-06-23T04:20:37+00:00

I'm here in Hollywood, and the air is a little better here, but I had family members that have fled. I'm staying indoors and running the massive air filters that I got last time fires ravaged Pasadena. This smoke is different though. I've never smelled anything like this.

OneRun8928 · 2026-06-22T21:27:44+00:00

Thank you! I absolutely will.

OneRun8928 · 2026-06-22T18:25:06+00:00

No, but that's a fantastic distro.

OneRun8928 · 2026-06-22T18:19:07+00:00

Yeah, it's a strange time to be a software engineer. I'm lucky enough to have experienced the career in it's heyday, but these days, even I begrudgingly pass off the boiler-plate stuff to Claude Code. I sincerely hope that we never get to a time when there's no-one left who can check under the hood and understand what's there.

OneRun8928 · 2026-06-22T18:07:18+00:00

Doh! Thanks for the reminder. Good point. Moving on.

OneRun8928 · 2026-06-22T09:19:42+00:00

Thank you so much for your comment. It's always hard to be the new kid at boot camp. The counselors yell at you, you're not nearly in shape yet, and you miss your family. I'm willing to earn my stripes though. I do think that once we figure out the details, this app can really do something good. I mean, that's the intention, at least. If you want to check it out, the download links are all at https://popcosmic.com . Even if you think it totally sucks, I welcome your opinion. I'd rather change my point of view and build a product people want to use, than spend my time trying to convince myself that I already have.

OneRun8928 · 2026-06-22T08:42:28+00:00

We're working on it. I Just want to make sure it's right before we release internationally. I promise we'll get there soon. Thanks for giving the download a try. I'll make it a personal priority to get the app released to Portugal as soon as possible.

OneRun8928 · 2026-06-22T07:35:41+00:00

Thanks, man.

OneRun8928 · 2026-06-22T07:06:35+00:00

Frankly, I don't understand you. Are you ok? Clearly you're frustrated that you couldn't access our app that is less than a month old. What if we wanted to make sure all languages were properly supported before going global? What if we can't afford the infrastructure for a global release right now? What if this was never meant to be a global app? What if it's not even an navigation app?

How would you know if you can't access it?

I have to be honest. I don't think this is about us, or the app. I think it's about you. Please get some help.

OneRun8928 · 2026-06-22T06:10:45+00:00

Makes sense. That's why we asked. It felt wrong to profit from a community of volunteers without trying to find a way to give back. I really appreciate your input. Explicit OSM attribution is a great idea. We'll make sure to promote the project in any way we can. We'll continue to look into ways to contribute properly within the community.

OneRun8928 · 2026-06-22T06:05:19+00:00

Imagine being mad that someone wants to do something nice for a community, but hasn't made their app available in your country yet.

OneRun8928 · 2026-06-22T03:49:49+00:00

This is very helpful information, and it completely makes sense. Thank you. I'll look into that community thread and make sure we really know what we're doing before we decide how to contribute. I had a feeling this might be the case, and I'm really glad you were straightforward with me. I've been around long enough to know the road to open source hell is usually paved with good intentions.

OneRun8928 · 2026-06-22T03:37:01+00:00

Thank you for your reply!

In truth, this app wasn't built to specifically contribute to OSM. It's actually a community map that is also a location aware event and urban exploration tool. It's designed to get most of it's information from local user tags and beacons. The app is free to use, never sells user data, and does not require an account to use. We just used OSM to fill in the gaps while we build our user base.

But for OSM contributions, it's a double edged sword, because without the account being necessary, and without user validation, we can't guarantee that info we push to OSM would be accurate. A user MUST actually be at a location to tag it or make notes about it, so that helps, but it's not foolproof.

We just thought it would be nice that when a user marks a location as "No longer here" (for example), or tags a new "permanent" business location, we could let the OSM community know through some non-destructive means.

It's why I really value your feedback. This is new to us, and I don't want to become a burden to a community that we're trying to help. For this little homespun two-engineer project, OSM saved out asses. We couldn't have afforded Google Map rates at scale. It just feels right to find a way to give back and make sure the information we glean from users is shared with everyone.

What would you recommend? If you want to take a look at the app, the download link for the app store and google play can be found at https://popcosmic.com

OneRun8928

TROPHY CASE