What to do when your world decreased to a size of a flat? Besedky — map-based video-meeting
An easy way to communicate with people around the whole world
As many other people me and my team got stuck at home with no possibility to travel, meet my friends and family, go to interesting places or just simply get outside of my house.
A world became so small. It decreased to a size of a flat…. And that’s when we decided to create Besedky — a map-based video meeting service
Hi, I’m Nadezhda Gerasimova, co-founder of Besedky. So what do you guys usually do when you are stuck at home?
I bet it is something from this list
But during COVID people actually experienced that sitting at home all day and having no possibility to see your friends and family or even go outside makes a strong pressure on your whole self. I personally help myself by listening to Jazz music by http://www.arturoofarrill.com/ and his team, try to keep the windows open for more fresh air, drink more, eat chocolates.
But music, reading, films, cooking and other activities can fade away in front of the need to communicate and be aware of your place in the world. My parents live in another city and I don;t know when me and my son will be able to see them. The same goes with my best friends. So this understanding and quarantine situation became catalysts of Besedky creation. But the whole story started a bit earlier….
How did we come up with the idea of creating a service with video calls on the map?
Coincidentally, I am currently working on yet another startup on the subject of urban studies and design. We have launched Otmetky — a digital participation tool, which is all about citizens taking part in discussions of an urban environment — marking their ideas and suggestions on a map — this is exactly the feeling of yourself in the city — your place, your opinion, your communication with others ( citizens, stakeholders, architects).
Communication with citizens led us to an idea of a local festival — but then — Boooom ! the COVID happens delaying everything. But why not to have an online festival — thought our team, after all everything was closed, and the neighbors remained bored at home.
And that’s when we decided to make Festyline — online festivals (in 3D or on a map) — where you could have interactive content. But working on Festyline we came up to a more simple and logical idea — that it would be cool to virtually walk on the map and at the same time communicate on any topics with those who live in this place or want to go somewhere.
So we discussed inside the team the idea that our local festival can be transferred online and with a real point of the yard on the map. All supported. After that, in 5 days our developer Boris linked the video link to the chat rooms on the map. We made the announcement of the festival, and rooms for it appeared in the north of St. Petersburg.
How it works ?
Imagine turning on the map and deciding whether to join the conversation in Florence or in Singapore. Or maybe you add your own room in Irkutsk and invite friends there to just remember how you had a rest on Lake Baikal.
To start chatting you don’t need registration, just click on an already created room on the map or create it yourself.
It’s easy to add a room: pin your room on the map, set a conversation topic in the title, add a picture or emoji and cheers — you are ready for a conversation. The room remains open for a week, even if no one is there yet. In one room with good video quality, 30 people can remain, and a maximum of 75.
Even in the description of the room, you can add a video. In the Besedky there are already live broadcasts from Nevsky Prospect and the National Park of New Zealand.
What does Besedky mean?
In russian besedky means — gazebo or pavillion — roofed structures that offer an open view of the surrounding area, typically used for relaxation or entertainment.
Why do you need map?
Here we counted several motives:
- Watch how people live on the other side of the Earth.
- Feel the journey to other countries and be part of this world.
- Chat with locals or people from all over the Earth.
- Wonder how now in an era of change, streets and cities look live.
- Reflect on the route of your next trip.
So what’s happening now with Besedky?
The project is already on Product Hunt, we are in the top ten projects featured on May 9.
Most of the rooms on the map now are on Parnas in St. Petersburg — 56 rooms. Our neighbor festival was held here, from which it all began.
Neighbors who could not be online, added videos to their rooms. During the month we were visited by a little more than 600 new users.
What’s next?
We plan that for now our service will remain free. And then we can add the ability to extend the time of the room on the map for a small amount, maybe there will be an advertisement for sales :)
For now, we can talk with local guides around the world so that they can stream along the streets of their cities when the quarantine is over. But this is so completely an idea, we did not reflect on it.
We just hope that Besedky will become a map of joint gatherings of souls, both with strangers from Brazil or Austria, and with friends who love traveling.
A small final promo for you to get more aquainted with Besedky
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If you want to connect to the whole world come into Besedky.
By the link https://besedky.com/
At Product Hunt, we are Besedky
We will be glad to have feedback.