In the spotlight: "Longboard Spot App" by Wouter Bohlken
An app to find your new favorite spot
Ever traveled to a new city and wondered where to find good spots? Amsterdam based longboarder Wouter Bohlken made an app just for that. Longboard Spots helps you to find and share cool spots or routes nearby. Whether you’re into dancing, cruising or downhill.
The beginning
Around 7 years ago, Wouter moved from Haarlem to Amsterdam for his bachelor Computer Science. Of course he brought his longboard with him. In his hometown he knew all the cool spots, but in this new city he didn’t know where to go. At the same time, he learned how to develop Android apps. How convenient!
“I thought, why not build an app that shows you longboard spots nearby? I built the first prototype of the app in just one weekend. I looked horrible, and didn’t have many features. Yet, I shared it in a Facebook longboarding community and received overwhelming responses. People loved the idea and wanted me to continue development on it. And so I did.”
More spots every day
It was clear Wouter provided a much needed service. “I think there are many longboarders out there that know some good spots which they visit often, but also like to explore and find new spots.” Over the years, the app got downloaded more than 30.000 times. The app includes over 7000 spots worldwide, and new spots are added by users every day. That doesn’t mean Wouter is done improving the app. During the last 7 years, he developed new features. Spots can now include characteristics such as difficulty level, distance, maximum slope, traffic level and road quality. Users can also add comments, likes and photos. “And thanks to two fellow software developers, the app is now also available on iPhone!” Future releases of the app will include community features, such as organizing meetups and finding riders in your proximity. Wouter is happy the app is used frequently. Often when he meets new riders, they appear to have the app installed on their phone. “That makes me really happy.” Sometimes people ask him if he earns money with it, but that’s not a thing he searches after. “This app is community based and free of charge, purely made out of passion. Community is very important to me, that’s what longboarding is all about.”
Where to download the app?
Below you can download the Longboard Spots App (for Android or iPhone) and start finding and adding your favorite spots!
Follow Longboard Spot App on Instagram