Mozilla Hacks

Interview with Giovanny Granada, winner of the Geolocation Dev Derby

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Posted on July 29, 2013 in Dev Derby and Geolocation

Giovanny Granada won the most recent Geolocation Dev Derby with GoGeoTweet, his wonderful web-based visualization of Twitter activity happening nearby. Recently, I had the chance to learn more about Giovanny: his work, his ambitions, and his thoughts on the future of web development.

The interview

How did you become interested in web development?

I became interested in development because I saw that my motivation was to innovate, create new things, and experiment with different technologies toward the goal of creating new and complete tools.

Can you tell us a little about how GoGeoTweet works?

The application works by using the Geolocation API and the Twitter API to show Tweets published within 1km of you–a very useful tool if you’re at an event or a special place and would like to know what Twitter users are saying.

What was your biggest challenge in developing GoGeoTweet?

The biggest challenge was using the Geolocation API and the Twitter API show to show only Tweets within a 1km radius.

What makes the web an exciting platform for you?

The ability to create things using technologies of all types and obtain great results. Building free alternatives that are full of new experiences and that share knowledge is something you can only do on the web.

What new web technologies are you most excited about?

Right now I’m excited to explore and learn about WebGL, HTML5 and all of the Web APIs that are making the web better.

If you could change one thing about the web, what would it be?

I would change web standards to limit the way applications can be created (for example, prohibiting Flash), to discourage applications that do not use modern technologies. I am totally sure that the web would be better if that changed.

Do you have any advice for other ambitious web developers?

If you can imagine you can create! Let’s do it! There are no limits!

Further reading