This article was published on November 5, 2009

Noticings is Foursquare for photo sharers


Noticings is Foursquare for photo sharers

NoticingsWhat do you get if you combine the photo sharing of Flickr with the pointscoring location-based gaming of Foursquare? Noticings.

Noticings is a game built on the Flickr API and based around taking pictures of the interesting things you notice as you make your way through the day. Anything from a discarded shoe to an unusual road sign can count as a ‘noticing’. The only thing banned is photos of people.

By uploading your photos to Flickr, tagging their location and adding the tag ‘Noticings’ you are automatically added into that day’s game.

At 3pm GMT your score for that day is added up and you’re placed on a leaderboard. Points are earned for a number conditions that encourage regular play and travel. Special conditions earn extra points; notice something every lunchtime for a week and you’ll get 50 bonus points, for example.

It’s highly reminiscent of Foursquare, the location-based game that launched in 15 new cities yesterday, but aimed at the generation of snap-happy mobile photographers who use Flickr to share their lives with the world.

As a recently-launched service, Noticings is still in development and the rules are being changed as the developers, London-based Tom Armitage and Tom Taylor, hone the concept.

The only main rule right now are that photos of people or without a clearly noticeable object in them are banned. Moderation appears to be done manually which obviously can’t scale if the service gains momentum. Some method of users flagging up ineligible images will need to be implemented at some stage.

Noticings is a stunning use of the Flickr API and something that all keen photo sharers should try.

[Hat-tip Andrew Stafford]

Noticings

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