Mobile Location Sharing Web Startup “Oh Hey World” Goes Open Source To Enable Anyone To Bring Location Sharing To Their Community

An open source solution for community builders to help their respective community members connect in person.

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) February 26, 2014

After a year of development, Oh Hey World is now an open source project. The company is now inviting companies and developers to collaborate on building a solution that centralizes the fragmented location sharing marketplace and helps community members discover and connect with other community members in person.

In person connections are the lifeblood of every strong community in existence; there is a limit to the strength of relationships that form without meeting face to face. Every community builder knows this, but they have struggled for years and years to figure out the right way to bring their communities together in person through a social, location-based solution.

Before Oh Hey World, no platform specifically existed to help communities discover and connect with each other based on geography.

Now, any technology vendor or in-house IT staff can bring location sharing to their own respective communities.

“The holy grail for any community builder is enticing their members to meet each other in person,” says co-founder Drew Meyers. “Oh Hey World offers a simple solution for community members to discover and connect with each other around location, and now its freely available to be customized by any community.”

Oh Hey World is a mobile location sharing solution that has gained strong traction within the long-term travel community since its launch in April 2013. At the core, the mobile web application uses a centralized location sharing service to solve two pain points particularly applicable to frequent travelers: sharing their safe arrival with friends and family back home, and connecting with those nearby and care to meet.

The application code currently includes a range of location based components, including city-level location sharing, location aware community member directories & tag results, and location specific tips and advice. Oh Hey World has already developed a mobile web application that allows users to check into a site or community through and notify friends and family via email, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, and others.

There are three open source repositories on GitHub. The core Ruby on Rails web service, an iOS app, and a WordPress plugin. All three can be found in Oh Hey World's GitHub account: https://github.com/oh-hey-world.

Director of Giving Shannon O’Donnell has spent five years traveling the world and volunteering, and she notes, “Finding creative ways to do good and be of service in new communities is an important part of traveling and understanding a new place and culture. The goal is absolutely to build a community passionate about enabling more connected and socially responsible travel experiences.”

About Oh Hey World, Inc.
http://www.ohheyworld.com, co-founded by Drew Meyers and Eric Roland in September 2012, is a location sharing mobile platform enabling travelers to share their location with the people, communities, and services that matter. It is an open source project built on Ruby on Rails for those passionate about enabling connected and socially responsive travel experiences. Oh Hey World, Inc. is based in Seattle, Wash., and Louisville, Ky.