Development

Urban Exploration Platform

Explore the forgotten.
Document the hidden.

UrbanLens is a private mapping platform for explorers. Pin locations, track visits, organise expeditions, and share knowledge with people you trust.

Everything you need to explore safely

Built by explorers, for explorers.

map

Interactive map

Drop pins on your locations, add photos, and build your personal database of explored sites.

group

Plan trips together

Organise group expeditions, invite fellow explorers, track RSVPs, and coordinate activities.

public

Community wiki

Each location has a community wiki page where explorers can share history, access notes, and hazards.

label

Tags & categories

Organise pins with custom tags, categories, saved filters, and smart lists that update themselves as your map grows.

health_and_safety

Safety check-ins

Set an expected return time before heading out. If you don't check back in, your emergency contacts are alerted with your route and live chat.

lock

Encrypted messaging

End-to-end encrypted direct messages and group chats, with pin sharing, disappearing messages, and location detection built in.

Research every location in depth

Pin pages automatically pull context from trusted external APIs - history, imagery, archives, weather, and web results - so you spend less time searching and more time exploring.

menu_book

Reference & media

Wikipedia summaries, Wikimedia Commons photos, and related encyclopedia content matched to each site by name and coordinates.

  • Wikipedia
  • Wikimedia Commons
place

Places & street view

Address autocomplete, canonical place names, and street-level imagery from multiple providers when you add or inspect a location.

  • Google Places
  • Google Street View
  • Mapillary & KartaView
map

Open map data

Community-maintained OpenStreetMap features and Nominatim reverse geocoding to fill in addresses and nearby landmarks.

  • OpenStreetMap
  • Nominatim & Photon
museum

Historical archives

Photographs, collection records, and historical maps from major cultural institutions to help reconstruct a site's past.

  • Smithsonian Institution
  • Library of Congress
  • USGS Historical Topo Maps
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Search & property records

Web search results for news and mentions, plus commercial property listings when researching industrial or vacant buildings.

  • Brave / Google Search
  • LoopNet
wb_sunny

Planning context

Forecasts and map overlays for trip planning, National Park Service data near federal parkland, and regional census, wildlife, seismic, and environmental data on demand.

  • OpenWeatherMap
  • U.S. National Park Service
  • US Census, EPA & USGS regional data

Which integrations are active depends on your instance configuration. See credits & acknowledgements.

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