A small web app where people quietly appear on a world map

#webdev #showdev #community #networking

I've moved around a lot. Finding information about a new city is easy- Google has everything. But finding people? That's weirdly hard.

So I built MapMates.

The idea

A map. You drop a pin. Others appear. That's it.

No signup walls. No algorithmic feed. No tracking. Just people, quietly appearing on a world map.

Who it's for

Digital nomads wondering who else is in Bali
Expats in Bangkok looking for other remote workers
Freelancers in Lisbon hoping to find a co-working buddy
Retirees in Portugal curious about their community

Tech stack

Next.js 14 (App Router)
Supabase (Postgres + Anonymous Auth)
Leaflet (maps)
Upstash Redis (rate limiting)
Tailwind CSS (styling)
Vercel (hosting)

How anonymous auth works

Most apps force you to sign up before doing anything. I wanted the opposite — drop a pin in 30 seconds, no email required.

Supabase has a neat feature: anonymous authentication. Users get a real auth session without providing credentials. If they clear their browser, they lose access — but for a casual "pin yourself on a map" use case, that's fine.

const { data } = await supabase.auth.signInAnonymously()

One line. User is authenticated. No friction.

Rate limiting

To prevent spam, I added rate limits using Upstash Redis:

1 pin per user (editable)
3 connection requests per day

const ratelimit = new Ratelimit({
  redis: Redis.fromEnv(),
  limiter: Ratelimit.slidingWindow(3, "1 d"),
})

What's next

City pages (mapmates.io/bangkok, mapmates.io/lisbon)
Email notifications when someone wants to connect
Let anyone create their own community map

Try it

👉 mapmates.io

Zoom in. See who's around. Maybe drop a pin.

Would love feedback from the dev community. What would you add?

DEV Community