YouSpots Blog

Welcome to the YouSpots blog. Here you'll get a first hand inside look into what we're doing, how the website and mobile apps are progressing and some personal team favourites from our database. Got inspired? Spread the word! Find and share the best spots at http://youspots.com Lots of action sports love from Enrico, Yannick, Sam, Max, Motzl, Martijn and everybody else who supports us!

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The 10 best longboard spots in the world?

We love longboarding. That’s why in 2010 we started YouSpots, a platform where you can share your favourite longboard spots and find new ones. We wanted people to be able to connect to the locals when they travel, share spots privately with their crew (via password) or just to add spots to their personal map to have a record of where they pushed their limits the hardest.

Over 14.000 longboard spots have since been added to the map so we wanted to take the opportunity to present you with some of our personal favourites.

Follow the links to find out exactly where these spots are, add them to your personal map, share them with friends or to add your own pictures and videos.

And remember: Skate safe and responsibly and respect the local culture so these spots don’t get blown out! We really can’t stress this enough. 1. Col de Turini - Italy Not just one of the most beautiful and fun roads to drive (as UK’s TV show Top Gear has ruled) but also a dream for any skilled downhill enthusiast, Col de Turini has it all. Italy is famous for its smooth tarmac and 10km (6miles) and plenty of hairpins give you enough time to push that adrenaline into even the furthest corner of your body.

  http://longboard.youspots.com/?mapid=6097

2. Titan's Path - Norway

Have you ever dreamt about 30 hairpins in a row? Well, we found a destination for you! In Lysebotn you can not only camp but rather more find one of the most amazing roads in europe to have a sick longboard run! Over 1km in length and with over 30% slope this spot is a beast!

http://longboard.youspots.com/?mapid=17508

3. Red Hill - Simons Town

Located on the edge of cape town in South Africa the scenery of this 5.2 km (3.2 miles) run is simply stunning. Since traffic can be quite dense here you better hit Red Hill in the morning. Its 5% slope makes for great fun, not only for pros.

http://longboard.youspots.com/?mapid=1062

4. Andacollo - Región de Coquimbo, Chile

This perfectly paved road in Andacollo is not for the faint-hearted. With over 30% slope at its steepest point (according to Google data) and reported heavy traffic this spot will challenge even the most hardcore downhillers! Should you have time to take a look around, the landscape in Chile is a blast as you will see in the pictures.

  http://longboard.youspots.com/?mapid=19065

5. Snake Run in Camp Woodward - United States

Snake runs are justpure and plain fun! In 2012 over 800 feet were added to the existing run at Cam Woodward and it is planned to continue expanding this longboard/skate/BMX spot over the next five years. The dynamic design was created so that new skateable elements could be added to it without losing the run’s aesthetic appeal. The whole path connects the upper and lower parts of Camp Woodward allowing riders to skate from top to bottom, from the camp to the cafeteria.

  http://longboard.youspots.com/?mapid=7625

6. Cuesta de Lipan - Argentina

This longboard spot in the Jujuy province is characterized by the beauty of the Andes mountains.The Río Grande of Jujuy cuts through the Quebrada de Humahuaca canyon, of heights between 1,000 and 3,500 meters. This longboard spot is over 11 Km (7miles) long and features over 15 hairpins with an average slope of almost 10%. Due to its perfect street conditions this spot should be a travel destination for every downhill addict.

  http://longboard.youspots.com/?mapid=3865

7. Vulkanradweg - Gedern Germany

Located in the center of Germany, the Vulkanradweg in Gedern is a great longboard spot for novice to intermediate riders. The beauty is its great length of over 13 km (8 miles) with a mostly relaxed slope perfect for dancing and cruising. At certain parts you can reach speeds of up to 50 Km/h (30mph). Its perfect pavement adds to the fun and there is even a bus going back to the top (only on weekends). Due to the fact that this is a well known spot, people are used to longboarders and are usually very friendly! Once a year this spots hosts one of the biggest German longboard meetings.

  http://youspots.com/?mapid=2592

8. Spearfish Canyon - United states

This beast of a longboard spot offers 20km (12miles) of freeride awesomeness! The average slope is not insane, which makes it accessible for many riders. However, do not underestimate its narrow corners. It's best to ride here during working hours (9am-5pm) to avoid traffic. If you enjoy a super long run, perfect surface and a beautiful scenery, you will want to go to Spearfish Canyon.

http://longboard.youspots.com/?mapid=3299

9. Dades Gorge Road - Morocco

Morocco is not only worth travelling to for ‘normal’ tourists, German LongTreks Skaters have discovered this beautiful longboard spot. The pavement is not the best but very skateble (as the video shows). Across its 8 km (5miles) this downhill spot features some awesome drops and corners.

 http://longboard.youspots.com/?mapid=18563

10. Bear Tooth Pass - United states

This spot is just crazy! 34 Km (21 miles) of pure gnar wets every longboarder’s dream! Steep roads, endless riding and crossing a state border! What more do you want? Maybe 10 hairpins and slopes up to 20%? This is probably the longest ride you’ll ever have! Make sure to hit this spot early in the morning to avoid traffic!

  http://longboard.youspots.com/?mapid=596

Bonus: Avenue Towards Heaven - China

We still don’t know of anybody who has skated this road yet. Videos and pictures suggest that the surface is good-to-ride, the road is closed for traffic (except special buses) and the scenery might be the most epic in the history of the sport longboarding wise. If you have any experiences with this great longboard spot, by all means, let us know and share your experiences on http://youspots.com.

   http://longboard.youspots.com/?mapid=4556

If you enjoyed this blog post, leave a comment, add your great spots to the map or join the Longboard community at www.youspots.com. We want to bring people together through what they love most. We want local communities to welcome new riders and show them around to the more secret spots. So please share your local crew hangouts or community spots so we can find you!   In our opinion, the best friends are those we meet through longboarding.

Much love and keep shredding!

The YouSpots team Yannick, Enrico, Sam, Max, Julia and all those that help us out on a regular basis.

PS: What would you like to see next? We thought about "10 Best Community Spots (to meet the locals and get to those secret spots)" 

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Sky is the limit! - And it's full of useful signs 

We are constantly thinking about how to give you an even better overview within the map and make it easier to find and add the best spots. That's why we just pimped our map interface a little more. After introducing the help section (take a tour) and the 'top spots'/'all spots' toggle we now redesigned the bottom right of the spots map. The main improvement is that all the map layers (sattelite, full screen, weather forecast etc) are now in a single button menu. Why? Because it made sense to us and all our friends liked it. After all, the ones who give the best feedback are the people who will actually use it: longboarders, surfers, skaters, bikers, divers, mountaneers etc etc - people just like us. And even if you're not a friend of ours yet: What do YOU think? 

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YouSpots Experiments: Css logo! We like to play! Especially our tech staff loves to try out different ideas and techniques as they present themselves. Today Enrico tried to create our logo in pure css. While a 500x500px png is about 10kb, the pure css version of the same logo is about 1.5kb. We are not sure when we will be able to implement this into YouSpots but it's another great way to improve loading times! Stay tuned :) If you like to check it out for yourself click here: http://youspots.com/tests/cssLogo.php (left css, right a png)

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Update: Add Spots

We just updated the add spots process, accessible via the "add spots" link. This updated is mostly geared to make the map tools as well as the whole process more easily understandable. 

You now are able to switch between all and top spots, get a interactive description about the interface and switch more effortlessly between track and area mode.

We hope you like the new "add spots" :)

[youspots]

Our Spots in Your Website - Map Embedment & API's

  We love action sports and we want to give something back, or rather pass it forward. You might already do so by building or distributing equipment, organizing events, managing a community page or generally supporting your local scene. 

Now you can give even more: our maps and spots within your own webpage or app, made possible through embedding our maps or using our data API's. Offer a free service, increase your site traffic and engagement from visitors and feel the love coming straight back to you.  Lead the way with Youspots Embedded Maps and the YouSpots Api's!  Read more here: http://api.youspots.com

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New Feature: YouSpots in Fullscreen

The title says it all! Our maps are now available in full-screen, just click on the enlarge icon in the bottom right of the map and see the beauty of YouSpots as big as you're screen is! 

Keep in mind, this feature only works in Chrome/Safari and Firefox due to the restrictions of Internet explorer 10 and Opera.

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New Feature: Top spots - All spots

Since YouSpots is the home of almost 20.000 spots in over 70 different sports we really felt the need to put more emphasis on the very best spots! So we created a simple system to switch between the best and all spots we offer.

Not only the loading time decreased a lot because of this feature, we also give you now the possibility to toggle between this two categories in very crowded cities and give you the best possible overview and spots!

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Meet the new YouSpots Maps: A map for every sport and spot Every year we are excited about Google I/O (the yearly google conference) since this is the place where new google maps features are anncounced. This year google gave us a better map. From now on you will see a better, more easy to read, simpler to understand and better looking map at YouSpots.com!

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New Feature: Spot Hyperlapse! Maybe you stumbled upon http://hyperlapse.tllabs.io in the past. Tllabs introduced Street View Hyperlapse and we are quite happy to bring this piece of interactive technology to YouSpots.com. Spot Hyperlapse enables you to watch a Steet View video within YouSpots (if Street View is available). Automaticly generated Hyperlapses will provide you a very nice overview over the spots you are looking at, regardless if you are searching for longboard, freebord, slackline or what ever sport! We hope you enjoy this feature!

You can find an example here: http://youspots.com/?mapid=2719

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Bohdana Longboards (a longboarding lifestyle brand from Ottawa) has joined forces with YouSpots (a spotfinding platform and action sports social network) to create the largest collection of longboard spots in the history of the sport. With a combined over 13,000 skate spots, this collaboration has produced a powerful tool for the globally connected longboarding community: the Longboard SpotFinder - accessible to everyone for free at www.longboardcommunity.org orwww.longboardspotfinder.com. 

Read more here: http://youspots.com/en/home/164.html

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Mission

Love action sports? You want to ride the most amazing spots? Alone or with friends who love the sport as much as you do? That's why we created YouSpots! You can find all sort of spots in your local area, discover the best spots in the world and easily share spots - either in private with friends by password or public with the whole community. You can also connect to new friends, follow them or find out who are the locals. YouSpots is a community effort: We've created it - but you make it what it is! So add your spots, YouTube and Vimeo videos, pictures, fotos and other media. Comment on spots and let others know where you are so they can find you and ride together. Spread the Stoke!

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All you need is the plan, the map, and the courage to press on to your destination.

Earl Nightingale