So what is HapsMap.com?
HapsMap.com is a free-to-use, collaborative online medium that enables users to share information about happenings taking place anywhere in the country on a daily basis. HapsMap lets you find out The What, The When and The Where of things going on around you quickly and directly since all HapsMap posts are 100% user-generated.
HapsMap enables you to...
Share daily occurrences you either see or know about
Auto accidents, police/criminal activity, fires, new stores opening – any unusual or otherwise noteworthy occurrences that you encounter can be shared with friends or the whole HapsMap community.
Promote upcoming events for greater attendance
Concerts, charity benefits, restaurant events, nightlife promotions, etc. If you want to maximize attendance at an upcoming event that you know about, make a community post about it on HapsMap.
Pose a question to the HapsMap community
Do you have reason to believe something is happening somewhere, but you just don’t know exactly what is? Check to see if a someone has posted a happening about it, and if nothing has been posted yet, you can post a question so see if someone else knows what is going on.
With HapsMap, you can promote upcoming events, highlight occurrences in your area and share insights and pictures with the site’s community. Basically, HapsMap gives you the ability to spread the word on all things you feel to be deserving of word-spreadage. And if you don’t have anything to share (or don’t feel like sharing anything 
) then you can of course just see what others have posted.
And how does HapsMap.com work?
The map on the HapsMap home page displays icons marking the geographic locations of various happenings occurring on whatever day the HapsMap display date is set to. When you visit HapsMap, the home page will display all current-day happenings by default. You can view future or past happenings as well by simply changing the display date above the map.
By selecting the second of the three tabs below the home page map, you can set the map to display all upcoming happenings. The third tab shows all those happenings that have been voted most popular among the HapsMap community for the current month.
When you post a happening, you are required to choose whether you would like it to be a 'Community' or 'Personal' post. Once submitted, both types are represented by icons on the home page map marking the time and geographic location of the happening. The difference is that community posts are visible to anyone who visits HapsMap, whereas personal posts are only visible to those HapsMap users who you allow to be your friends on the Site. Personal posts are therefore ideal for smaller, more private happenings. Community posts, on the other hand, will reach a much wider audience - making them more ideal for bigger happenings that may be of interest to the general public.
For our purposes, all happenings fall into one of the following categories for which there are corresponding HapsMap icons:
 |
Fire:
This one is pretty self-explanatory… Where and when there’s smoke, choose the fire happening type.
Food:
New restaurants opening, health-code violation scandals, and all else concerning food or drink would fall into this category.
General Interest:
This one is a catchall. If you want to share a happening, but aren’t sure what icon to associate with it, this is probably the one to pick (like say, for instance, if a plane were to land on the Hudson river or something like that).
Police:
Witness some share-worthy police activity? Or maybe you just saw a lot of police cars converging somewhere and you want to know what’s going on? If so, this is the happening type to choose.
Sports:
Trying to put together a simple pick-up game or maybe you just want to share the sweet view from your box seats with the rest of us? If so, then the Sports happening type is the one to choose.
Social:
Hosting a get-together with friends? Want to share recommendations or discuss nightlife? Know of some special event at your local bar or coffee shop? If so, then it’s the Social happening type that you want.
Nature/Outdoors:
Naturally, all outdoorsy activities, nature-related happenings or anything else pertaining to good ol’ Mother Earth should be associated with this happening type.
Lost and Found:
Did you find something you think someone might be missing? Or maybe it was you yourself who lost something and some kindly tech-savy stranger found it. Get it back by making a post with this happening type.
Volunteerism/Charitable Cause:
Charity fund raisers, benefit walks, awareness initiatives and the likes can all be posted with the Volunteerism/Charitable Cause happening type.
To view a happening that has been posted, simply click on its icon on the map and a tabbed window will open that will allow you to navigate through the happening’s info, pictures and comments.
If you want to post a happening of your own, click the 'add a happening' tab at the top of the page, or you can click the the 'add a happening' button to the top right of the home page map. You will be prompted to enter basic information relevant to your happening, including a description of what it is and whether it should appear as a single or multi-day happening.
If available, you can upload pictures related to your happening, and if you want, you can allow others to upload their own pictures to your happening as well. Then, if everything appears as you want it to appear, click the 'submit' button and your happening will be posted to the HapsMap home page.
Well, what exactly qualifies as a happening?
As far as we're concerned, a happening can be any occurrence or event (past, present, or future) that you believe to be of some local or national interest. A happening can be almost anything you choose to make it so long as it does not violate our Terms of Use... Just play by our few simple rules and have fun! The video below offers some further details as well as some examples of what you can do with HapsMap:
Thank you for your interest in HapsMap.com!
Click here to pay us a visit us on Facebook!
