
Show HN: GIF Directions - jack_riminton
https://gif.direct
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jack_riminton
The problem I was trying to solve is the difficulty/speed of finding places
relying on 2D tech of maps and GPS.

For some scenarios (unmapped areas, indoors, congested environments, no
address system) a gif makes finding a place much easier.

Future improvements: multiple gifs for each place (for different approach
directions), unique links for specific deliveries e.g.
gif.direct/redhouse/123456

Its my first coding project I've shipped so any feedback greatly appreciated

Stack: Rails, a bit of JS for maps (leaflet), python AWS Lambda for video
processing (MoviePy, FFMpeg), S3

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kohtatsu
It looks really good: the idea is cute, and your intro video is great.

Would you be open in adding Sign in with Apple?

[https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sign_in_with_apple](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sign_in_with_apple)

I don't have an active Google account, and with Apple's service in I can opt-
out of giving my direct email away.

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njsubedi
Ah, the problem. I have started using my custom domain and a random username
for each service, derived from the service's domain. Pretty easy way to not
give away your email.

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kohtatsu
I do this as well, but it's a lot nicer (and actually private) to have a
random @privaterelay.appleid.com.

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thih9
> (and actually private)

It's private, assuming we trust Apple. For now Apple is privacy friendly, but
this might change in a couple of years.

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dheera
Honest question here -- why would anyone want to use a GIF for this -- or
anything really -- compared to H.264?

I feel like even the cat GIFs would look so much better if they were using
H.264.

GIF is an 8-bit lossless format and it just seems to be that for any kind of
photorealistic video content you probably want 24-bit and lossy.

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everfree
The term "GIF" is used in a very broad sense nowadays. I'm sure the actual
image encoding they're using is a proper video format, not the GIF format
itself.

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jack_riminton
You're correct, I'm using mp4s instead of actual GIFs. Much more compressed.

I think most people understand GIF to mean a short, possibly sped up video

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egfx
Wrong. A GIF is an image format. It literally means “graphical interchange
format”. A gif displays single image frames in sequence with timings between
each frame. When the frames of the gif end, the frames restart from the
beginning and so they are often seen to loop. Technically a gif can play
indefinitely. It’s just annoying to see people ascribe gif as basically video.

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wetmore
Just because short videos aren't all technically GIFs, doesn't mean that
people don't commonly understand "gif" to mean short video.

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dheera
I think this is similar to how the public has mistakenly understood "HDR" to
mean a software local contrast enhancement effect and dialing in
highlights/shadows, whereas true HDR doesn't refer to software and requires
either advanced sensor hardware or multiple exposures.

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samstave
I have a use case that might be interesting:

Hikes.

Showing people proper routes to get to a hiking spot, then the path to go
down. Some times hiking trail-heads are obscure to find.

So tagging a Gif-Dir with #hiking #hike-marin and such would be nice...

This would be interesting in places like the Sequoias as sometimes you get
lost on Endor trying to find that particular grove of redwoods that are
desired.

Hiking, biking, walking, running, beach going, even experiences like wine
tasting....

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jack_riminton
I love it!

hashtagging is a really interesting idea. One feature that I plan to do soon
is to offer a search function, so as well as people being able to search by
area perhaps I can add tags to these so that people could search by trail
names etc.

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samstave
Where are you based... i have something i have been working on which would
dovetail nicely with your app

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jack_riminton
London

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samstave
Contact info?

Put an email in your profile?

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jack_riminton
jack@gif.direct

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boffinism
So this is for situations where 'normally' I would take a video of me walking
from A to B and then send it to someone so that they know the way from A to B.

The benefit this service offers in these situations is that it speeds up the
video and allows me to put a map next to it.

Do people actually use first person video to give directions?

~~~
jack_riminton
I envisage it would primarily be used by people who live or work in a place
that people have problems finding.

This is normally a big deal for businesses who deal with a lot of deliveries.
An especial problem for places that have specific entrances and possibly need
forewarning that they're arriving

Yeah this is a new idea, I've seen people upload directions on youtube though

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yellowapple
The sample is a 404

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jack_riminton
Fixed :)

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TedDoesntTalk
> signup with Google

You lost me there. I won't use 3rd party auth systems like Facebook, Google.
There's no reason they should know i use your service and how frequent i use
it.

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jack_riminton
That's fair. Someone just pointed me to use metomic.io which protects a user's
email so I'm currently looking into spinning that up

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SquareWheel
If the intention is to send it to phones, then gif downloads are going to
explode your user's data caps. It also seriously limits the quality of the
resulting video.

I'd suggest relying on the <video> tag in browsers. It will be a lot easier to
encode for your servers too (though may require some retooling).

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jack_riminton
Good suggestion, already on it ;) all 'gifs' are actually mp4s

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SquareWheel
I'm glad to hear it. Proper video formats will work significantly better.

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LeonB
This is nice. A lot of Airbnb places could use this.

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jack_riminton
Thanks! yes they'd be great first B2C users

Later I'll be creating an API and marketing it to delivery companies in a kind
of B2B2C

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antoniuschan99
Japanese Airbnbs all have it like this. It’s very complicated and something
like your solution could simplify it further.

The hosts send these pdfs with pages of arrows to go left, right, straight
with landmarks to get to your Airbnb.

One issue is since the guest is in a new Country, they might not have Internet
connectivity at that moment.

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jack_riminton
Ah interesting, thanks

Yes, connectivity is always a risk. Although perhaps mitigated by checking the
gif before you depart. The one thing I've found by creating these gif
directions is that they tend to leave quite an indelible impression and are
fairly easy to remember

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hriminton
This would be really helpful in Sweden to find the many summer houses that are
off main roads.

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jack_riminton
Yes that would be perfect use of it

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hriminton
Also in Sweden no flats have numbers (like the rest of the world) only the
person surname on the flat door. Thus finding the correct flat in buildings
with different parts and courtyards is difficult especially when people have
the same surname

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hriminton
One more also, I bumped into a food delivery guy at our building yesterday and
he didn’t know where to leave the delivery… a simple system like this could
help him to find the correct drop-off point especially in these times of
social distancing

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themantra514
Why are people asking "what is it?" with next level passive-aggressive polite
ranting?

1-Make a video from point A to point B.

2-It gets converted to a gif.

It's about the clutter free experience for the user, the wonderful experience
of "it shows you the way, nothing else, and it just works."

Good work jack_riminton

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jack_riminton
Thanks! I have tried to keep it as simple as possible, which means leaving
stuff out.

Some people don't get it, that's fine, they don't have to :)

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vaibhavthevedi
Your demo is giving me a 404. Can you provide another one? Looks interesting.

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jack_riminton
Fixed :)

