There is no secret, LOCQL is build on Google App Engine and a number of other google APIs and services. We attened today's GTUG in Google's Kirkland office, and gave a quick demo of LOCQL and how LOCQL use Google App Engine's channel API to provide realtime features.

Here is the slides we presented:

LOCQL team gave a talk on CSCOOP monthly talk session and received great feedback! Here is the slides I used during the talk, I removed the begining part about the startup experience and left the parts about LOCQL and the patterns of location based service.

This article is the 2nd in a series of LCCQL sneak previews. LOCQL is still in its private beta at this moment. But be prepared, we going to public beta very soon!

The first time you come to locql.com, you need to sign in before you can answer questions.

There are a couple of options to sign in with Facebook or Twitter etc. Click on "Login with Facebook".

LOCQL is a location based Q&A service. It allows user to ask questions for specific places and other users can answer the questions based on their local expertise.

Just like Quora and other Question & Answer services, the general components of LOCQL are the following:
You can ask questions about a place.
You can answer questions about a place.
You can make comments on answered questions.
You can vote up or vote down answers to questions .
You can assign topics to questions.
You can follow questions, topics or other users.
You can search for a question or ask a new question from an auto-complete search-box at the top.

Additionally, LOCQL allows the following:
You can sign into LOCQL with your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
You can share your LOCQL questions to your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
You can share your LCOQL questions to emails or with other LOCQL users.

LOCQL is in its private beta at this moment. Here are some sneak previews if you are interested.

The first time you navigate to www.locql.com, you can see a summarized list of latest questions and answers. You can browse the Q&As as much as you wish without signing in.

After signing in you can type in a place name e.g. "Washington DC" from the top auto-completed search box. Afterwards you are brought to the Q&A page for Washington DC.

Congratulations, you just asked your first question on LOCQL.

We just made a decision to take a family vacation in Seattle this summer. I've heard that summer in Seattle is simply gorgeous.

I am the trip planner of my house. I take responsibility in research on what sceneries or places we are visiting, what hotels we are staying in and what restaurants we are dining at. My trip planning usually involves the following steps:
1. Read lonely planets and offical travel guides.
2. Search for posts in my favorite travel forums. Learn from others' experience and lessons to determine the top places to visit.
3. A lots of googe work to determine which hotel to stay. Read through the yelp reviews to decide which restaurant to dine at.

The planning part is definitely fun but also tedious. There are just too much information out there and too many places worth a visit within such a short time. Tons of efforts are spent sorting out the truly valuable opinions. How I wish I know a better way to sift through these information. So this year I decide to try LOCQL out. LOCQL is still in its private beta stage so there are very limited Q&As and users in the system at this moment. But it is worth a try.

First I posted a question asking LOCQLers to recommend the top to-go places in Seattle:

http://www.locql.com/qa/739004/I-am-planning-for-a-family-vacation-in-Seattle...

When browsing Seattle downtown Q&As, I found out where to park when I visit Space Needle.
http://www.locql.com/qa/509008/what-s-the-cheapest-parking-around-seattle-cen...

I've also found a few posts about authentic Italian restaurants and Sushi bars. Great! I am going to try them out for sure.

I did a little more search about Mt. rainier on LOCQL and I've figured out what're the best hiking trails and the best lodging options.

Of course I still need to book my air tickets, hotel rooms and rent a car. I still have more research to do about the places we are visiting. But at least I've got a plan.

Two years ago my family and I were living in a tiny 2-bedroom apartment in sunny and beautiful San Francisco city. One day my husband came home with a job offer and told me "Honey, we are going to move to the eastern coast!".  

I was thrown into this twirl of planning for an unpredictable life in an unknown city. Sure I was excited and joyful, but on the other side I was scared about the new city. Where can I find a good dentist or a family doctor? Which is the safest neighborhood to live? Is there any Asian grocery store around? How about schools for the kids? I spent a lot of time doing research online. I googled of course and there was a vast amount of information coming up, relevant and irrelevant. But can I really trust the google ranks? With so many listings out there in the google pages, maybe I'll just flip a coin to pick my doctor?
 
I remember I was thinking "if only I could know someone local in that area". I went to a few forums and posted my questions there, hoping to find help from someone residing in that city. Sometimes I got lucky but most of the times I was quite disappointed.

My relocation turned out to be OK with all the long hours of research online, a few ill-informed decisions and scads of uncertainties. Looking back, I just wish it could have been less painful and less stressful.

That's why the idea of LOCQL makes me thrilled. LOCQL lets me ask my questions about a place and I can get answers from local people. After all, the locals know the best about their areas. Whether it is relocating or a simple trip to a new place, LOCQL helps.

The story does not end there yet. The other day when my husband asked me "Honey, the winter in east coast is way too harsh. Do you want to move to some place warmer, say Hawaii?", I did not panic.

Yes, we are finally begining our private beta! Starting from today, we are going to invite small amount of users, mostly our friends, our friends of friends, the people we know to participate in the private beta.  We will make daily deployments for bug fixes and improvements, and we will run a 2 weeks private beta sprint, in the begin of every sprint, we will invite some more users (and also send reminder to our current beta users).

Please feel free to leave us comment to help us improve LOCQL!

LOCQL team busy on finalizing...

Photo credit: SQL Lam