OUTSIDE

Outside connects people by taste. Land in any city and see where people like you are tonight, on a live 3D map powered by Qloo. Plus a crowd dashboard for venues.

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Why I built this

I travel solo. Every time I land in a new city, I go through the same thing: I want to go out, but I don't know where my kind of place is. regular app show me what's popular, the top 10 bars, the tourist spots, the places with the most reviews. None of them tell me where people who love the same music and food as me are going tonight, or which events I'd actually enjoy.

So I'd scroll for an hour, pick somewhere that looked fine, and end up in a room full of people I had nothing in common with. Or I'd just stay in.

I built Outside for that moment. Outside connects people by taste. You land, open it, and see where your people are tonight.

Try it (judges, start here)

Open https://outside-tonight.vercel.app — there's no sign-up. You land on a live 3D map of London as a guest who loves Burna Boy, Tems, Ezra Collective and Dishoom.

  • Glowing green places are where people with your taste are checked in right now.
  • Tap any place with a match, then See the Qloo call to see the exact Qloo request behind the number.
  • For venues → See the demo venue opens the venue dashboard (view-only).
  • Switch city at the top. 36 cities work, including London, Lagos, Cape Town and New York.

People and reviews marked Demo are seeded so the map is never empty.

What it does

When you land somewhere new

  • A live 3D map of the city tonight. Places glow green where people with your taste are checked in.
  • Places and events picked for your taste by Qloo. Events are found live on the web each day, and every lineup is scored against what you love.
  • Two ratings on every place: what everyone thinks, and what people like you think. That second number is the one I always wanted.
  • Check in, see who's here (first names only, and only if they choose), say hi, chat, and meet up safely. Both people have to opt in, it lasts 30 minutes at most, and it only works near the venue.
  • "How was it?" ratings, plus ride links for Uber, Bolt and Maps.

For venues Venues have the opposite problem: they don't know who's walking in. Outside gives them a crowd dashboard: who comes each night, what they love, ratings by taste group, and who to book next (artists this crowd would love, from Qloo). Totals only. No names, and any group smaller than 3 people is hidden.

How I built it

Qloo is the heart of it. Every "this fits you" in Outside is a Qloo answer. Without Qloo there's no ranking places by taste, no scoring event lineups, no way to compare two people's taste, and no "who to book next".

What Qloo call
Rank real places near you by your favourites, with explainability (which favourite carried each match) /v2/insights (places)
Score each event lineup against your taste; find who a venue should book next /v2/insights (artists)
Build a taste profile so two people can be compared /v2/insights (tags)
Turn names into entities; look up venues /search, /entities

I wanted every match to be checkable, so each place carries the exact request that produced it. Tap See the Qloo call and you'll see the parameters, Qloo's affinity score, and how much each of your favourites counted.

Stack: Node 22 (no framework), Supabase Postgres, MapLibre GL 3D maps on OpenFreeMap tiles, Claude with web search to find event listings (Qloo then decides which fit you), Vercel. 113 automated tests, including attack tests.

Keeping people safe

Meeting strangers in a city you don't know has to feel safe, especially when you're on your own. So:

  • Only the things you love are sent to Qloo. Never your name, email or location.
  • Nobody sees a map of strangers. Crowds are counts and avatars only.
  • Names only show to people verified at the same venue, tonight (check-ins are checked within 300 m).
  • Every rule lives on the server, not in the screens, so no one can get around it.

How it makes money

Anyone can find a venue online for free, so going out stays free on Outside.

  • Free for everyone: the map, places, ratings, events, check in and say hi.
  • Event Spotlight (planned, $15 per event per city): organisers pin their event for people whose taste fits the lineup. Always labelled "Spotlight". Includes the crowd dashboard.
  • Outside Premium (planned, $4.99 a month): see where your people will be in a city before you land, unlimited hellos, and your matches' full taste.

During judging everything is unlocked and nothing is charged.

Challenges I ran into

  • Qloo has no event listings. So a daily agent finds real events in each city on the web, checks every one against its sources, and only then asks Qloo to score the lineup.
  • Rate limits. The live map hit Qloo's limits early on. I added a request queue, retries and a cache, and now the map loads in about 3 seconds.
  • Safety vs. simplicity. I wanted saying hi to feel easy, but never unsafe. Getting that balance right took the most thought.

What I'm proud of

  • It's a complete product for both sides, people and venues, and it's live right now with no sign-up wall.
  • Every match can be checked with See the Qloo call.
  • It works in 36 cities, from London to Lagos.

What I learned

Taste is a better way to find your people than distance alone. Two strangers who love the same artists already have something to talk about.

What's next for Outside

  • Launch with real venues in London,lagos and more
  • Turn on Event Spotlight for promoters.
  • Premium "plan ahead", so travellers like me can see where their people will be before the plane lands.

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