WhoWhere: map for your chat

In a big chat of friends or like-minded people the question always comes up: who of us is in Berlin right now, or near Tbilisi? WhoWhere answers it with a map. Add the bot to your chat, members mark an approximate location, and the community appears on one screen. 🗺

Where the idea came from

The author, developer Anton Osipov, moved to Kazakhstan in 2022 and came up with WhoWhere to see which country each of his company's employees was in. Later it became a bot for communities and friends who share their movements around the world.

The author's site mentions tens of thousands of users and more than a thousand communities.

What shows on the map

Members share not only their current point but also future routes. Others see an approximate location, not an address.

• Current place. You check in and your point appears on the shared map.
• Travel plans. You can say where you are heading so acquaintances can agree on a meeting early.
• Who is nearby. A separate command shows people close to you.

Bot commands

The command set is large but logical.

• /update refreshes your location.
• /hide hides it.
• /delete removes your location completely.
• /near shows who is nearby.
• /places opens places on the map.
• /group, /create, /join work with groups.
• /stats, /language, /nft give statistics, switch language and mint an SBT token.

Privacy first

The map shows only what a person decided to share. Everyone manages their own settings and can hide or erase data at any moment. Still, think about what you publish.

1. Share an approximate point, not your home or workplace.
2. Do not post trips before you leave if the chat has many outsiders.
3. Use /hide when you want to stay unseen.
4. If you change your mind, remove your data with /delete.

Launching it in your chat

Add the bot to a chat or channel and ask members to tap the map button. The first points appear as soon as people share a location. Explain in a pinned message why the map exists and that sharing is optional.

That way nobody feels pressure, and the map fills up with people who are truly interested. After a week you will have a first picture of where your community lives. 📍

Who it suits

The bot works best in communities where people know each other: nomads, traveling teams, classmates, hobby clubs. If your chat has three thousand strangers, there is little reason to share a location. 🌍

For organizers it helps plan meetups: you see where most members live and can pick a city for the next gathering.

The SBT token: what it is

The /nft command mints an SBT token. This is a non-transferable token that confirms some fact, for example membership in a community. It is for collecting, not for earning. Minting involves a wallet, so check every signature and never enter a recovery phrase. 🔐

Overall, WhoWhere is a light way to turn an ordinary chat into a living community map.