Blown out with pinpoint accuracy

I’ve recently gotten two emails promoting different skate spot maps on the web. The idea is that you sign up and add spots in your area, and if you are traveling you can find spots on the way. I suppose the idea is useful for the casual skate tourist. Say you’re in a town on business or with family. If you got a break you could use these services to see if there is anything nearby. Of course you’re limited to what are probably the most blown out spots in the area, but it’s better than nothing if your are without a guide and don’t have a lot of time to explore. One service is a very slick one called New Breeders that’s pretty fancy, but has a some interface problems once you dig down. Also, it’s not limited to skate spots. The promo vid show surfing and bmx, so who knows what else is in there. Oh wait, I do. It’s got everything extreme!™. The second is from a web site called SubPublic, and it’s got much less eye candy, but it’s strictly skateboard related. SupPublic doesn’t require a login, but New Breeders does. What do you get for logging in? A lot more spots than SubPublic, even if you filter out the Parkour discipline. New Breeders has listings for hotels and nightlife as well. I’m not sure how they are funding this site, but they have “partnerships,” API’s and what not, so they must be trying to make money at some point. On the other hand, SubPublic lets you embed the map on your own web site with only the tiniest bit of branding. Of course it’s Google’s technology, so anyone could do it, but these guys have a head start. Check out SubPublic and New Breeders.