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UK Ghost Excursions Map

DrPaulLee

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Messages
1,990
I'm like to announce my first Android App, a mapping programme that acts a guide to many of the thousands of haunted locations in the UK.

My goal was for it to not only act as a gazetteer but also as a guide as you visit explore the UK, to tell you if any spectres are at hand.

You can query locations and the map will pan there (it uses a third party database based in America, so if you type in a name in the search box, you might need to put "UK" at the end).

If you choose to have your current location made available to the app and you are in the UK, it will show you how close you are to a haunted location
(note that the app does not keep a record of your location or past history and nothing is transmitted to Google, myself or anyone else). There is also a help page if you press the "i" button on the top left hand side, and it includes my contact information if you notice any bugs, problems with locations or suggestions. I don't bite!

I hope you like it. I aim to add new locations every month or two, schedules permitting!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.paullee.ghostexcursions
 
I've been adding new locations to this for months and I've also been consolidating what I already have. I've checked 90% of the locations as some places had closed down, been renamed, or changed "type" (eg a bank is now a church!). Two venues are completely gone - demolished!
I thought I'd mention this update as the code has just had a major revamp and upgrade, and there is now a button to show lists of anniversary ghosts. So, now you know where to go for Halloween - even though there are many more for dates over the Christmas period :)
 
Well worth 69p! Seems pretty comprehensive and accurate for my local area. The 'Anniversary Ghosts' function is very useful too!

It would be nice if you could add a button to make it jump to your current location, once it knows (it didn't do this on my phone - Galaxy S7)

Also maybe a little left and right margin on the text window might make it a bit more readable.

But otherwise I like this a lot!!
 
Thanks for your kind words! Don't forget to leave a review!

As for enhancements..
I've put left/right margins in, ready for the next release which will be *soon*
If you've allowed location permissions, the map should scroll to your current location if you press the circle "button" to the top right of the map. This works on my phone (HTC Desire) but I am always wary that some phone manufacturers might cripple features for security and privacy reasons. To give an example: I'm working on my next app which uses your phone's camera capabilities. To do this, it needs to be able to write image files to your phone's internal storage - and some makes of Sony phones don't allow this.
Anyhow, that's by the by. I am delighted that you like the app! Any changes I do will automatically roll out to you :)
 
that's the "centre to current location", below the calendar button to the top right
 

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Ah, thanks! The 'centre' button doesn't appear on first run (since the app has to ask for permission), it's there now.
 
He just doesn't want anyone to know how much his house is worth, because then he'd have to pay taxes on the full value. :evil:
 
Just an update...
My app now has 5206 individual entries; with 472 new and updated since my last app release two months ago. Since January 1st I've been contacting the locations to see if anything had been reported recently but then my project was understandably put on hiatus for 3 months and only resumed in July; even so, I've achieved a lot - I've managed to get responses from 464 places, out of perhaps 3500 contactable locations (a lot of places are roads, bridges, ruins, and other categories which I can't reach via email). Even so theatres and a lot of museums and hotels are closed but I intend to resume with them when things ease off. Most places I contacted, which number a few thousand, don't write back, and of the ones that do the majority say that nothing has been experienced for many years. However, a quantity are still reporting activity, and this has unearthed some brand new ghosts. All of these findings are on my latest app.

The biggest alteration comes from the way the app displays your location (if you opt in, that is). Google suddenly decided 6 months ago that allowing an app to calculate your location while "in the background" could be used for evil purposes and sent an edict around to many authors demanding changes. This required quite a rewrite to the core functionality. So, if you use the app, but have it in the background (in a "paused" state) and when you return to it, it has lost your current location, press the circle button in the top right hand corner. Its a pain in the **** but don't blame me.

Oh, and btw, theres a new icon category - haunted bridges.
 
I've just issued my latest update of the app. It now has 5324 locations. I'm also still contacting locations to check on their haunted status. I didn't want to bombard them as soon as restrictions were eased, but decided to wait until things had "calmed down" a bit and resumed emailing in late June. But it's paying off, even though most places don't reply and of the ones that do, many reply "nothing recent". A couple of locations have come up with some real gems - and the landlord of one pub said "nothing reported for a long time but did you know about my previous pub...?" - and came up with somewhere never mentioned before.

So I now have 503 locations which have a yay or nay on my app. There's also a dozen or so others that replied but didn't want to get involved, usually mansions or castles that are also family homes.
 
Just downloaded it - very good so far.

Can I ask, are you just including accounts published in books, or are you including newspaper stories, personal anecdotes, etc. too? I suppose what I mean is what are your criteria for inclusion?

You must have put an extraordinary amount of work into it!
 
Thanks for your kind words :)
I shudder to think of the number of hours spent on it.

I'm open to putting people's experiences, newspaper reports etc in the map. I have a few criteria:
Im not that keen on one-off ghosts:
I'm really only keen in occurrences since (say) the 1980s;
And a few other things too. I try to focus more on places that can be visited but if people are OK with me putting private addresses down, I'll consider them.

I'm also wary about putting reports from ghost groups down. To my mind they lack objectivity and suffer from confirmation bias. As I say to places I email I'm more interested in stories that staff and visitors have recounted as they go about their day to day business. I've been on waaaay too many ghost hunts where the slightest click and tick is taken as proof of communication from the other side.
 
Thanks for your kind words :)
I shudder to think of the number of hours spent on it.

I'm open to putting people's experiences, newspaper reports etc in the map. I have a few criteria:
Im not that keen on one-off ghosts:
I'm really only keen in occurrences since (say) the 1980s;
And a few other things too. I try to focus more on places that can be visited but if people are OK with me putting private addresses down, I'll consider them.

I'm also wary about putting reports from ghost groups down. To my mind they lack objectivity and suffer from confirmation bias. As I say to places I email I'm more interested in stories that staff and visitors have recounted as they go about their day to day business. I've been on waaaay too many ghost hunts where the slightest click and tick is taken as proof of communication from the other side.
The Red Cow pub in Nantwich, Cheshire has been mentioned on'ere a time or two because of its quite famous ghosts.
The ladies' lavs're reputedly scary and a barmaid I asked about the hauntings had personally seen glasses moving on their own and heard the ones hanging up clinking together.

I'm sure they'd be pleased to hear from you as the ghost is well-known and popular locally.
 
Thanks, I shall contact them next week!
Next time we're passing we'll pop in and hopefully have something to report! :)

I do hope they open up to you about it. The barmaid I asked was a little wary at first but when she knew I was sincere she enjoyed telling me.

(The Red Cow has seats outside facing the bus station. That's where I was sitting one day when I noticed a coach opposite with the word ELVIS on the side. :omg:
It was actually TRAVELWISE with the side door open! :chuckle: )
 
I did a quick search and found some interesting stories. I've sent them an email, but given my dismal success rate with pubs I don't expect a reply TBH.
 
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