Application Provides Time-Space GPS

Traditional map transformed in innovative wayEryn OlsonTHE SANTA CLARAOctober 24, 2013[dropcap]F[/dropcap]rom Google Maps to Harry Potter’s Marauder map, having a tool that informs you where you are situated in time and space always comes in handy. The student-run start-up application 50i50 is a search engine that shows users when and where events are happening. This application makes the traditional static map come to life. With Android, iOS, Kindle or a desktop computer, 50i50 users can both discover and inform. The spatial dimension of this app makes it particularly unique. 50i50 prides itself on its map feature and virtual display of events. “There’s so much information and so much happening around that we don’t know that 50i50 exposes you to,” said junior Alek Hurst, co-founder and product manager of 50i50. The company’s long-term goal is to create a new generation of time-space GPS. Currently, 50i50 is trying to collaborate with the Center for Student Leadership, an organization known to support other student-run applications, to get approval to use Santa Clara as their initial platform. Hurst said that with Santa Clara, they can get “a refined user base and feedback on the application from students.” The company’s main focus is building a core group of users. So far, people have mainly heard about 50i50 by word of mouth. Hurst encourages people to critique his app so he can continue to make improvements. 50i50 officially launched on Sept. 23, the first day of school for Santa Clara students. There are an estimated 30-40 users in San Jose, Calif., and 50-60 unique users in the Santa Clara area.Hurst joined the company this summer, working alongside his co-founder, Laurent Martenot, who has been developing the company for the past three years. He estimates that about 95 percent of the data on the app comes from outside sources and websites and hopes that the number will decrease once users start to input their information. 50i50 includes information on university events and sports games, but the founders envision a future database filled with movie show times, concerts, shopping deals, alerts, news and meetings.With 50i50, you can “share things that are happening around you with the rest of the world,” and the “i” signifies how you are “putting yourself in the middle of sharing both your time and space,” Hurst said.Hurst first contacted Martenot through BroncoLink, Santa Clara’s job and internship database. After Hurst’s summer corporate internship, he reconnected with Martenot and the pair have been “full-fledged into it,” working between 40 and 60 hours per week on 50i50.Hurst is eager for the app to start creating an impact on people’s everyday lives. “We’re ready for that spark to hit,” Hurst said “We are prepared.”  Contact Eryn Olson at eolson@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4825.