Weekly Updates

Digital Real Estate Development

The most widely cited meme/feature of the blockchains is the ability to create and enforce scarcity of digital assets without a trusted party. For some projects, scarcity is held up as the be-all-end-all. 

But on the Geo Web, we want to emphasize economic value (and demand) generated through the utility of our digital land rather than just relying on speculative value often associated with scarcity. 

We want to encourage participants to think like “digital real estate developers” and create value that accrues to the land such that each successive landowner has the opportunity to build on the shoulders of the last. We’re excited about several smart contract and cryptographic tools that can help us do just that. 

Our partial common ownership system assesses a real carrying cost based on the perceived value of each land parcel. So while a land licensor’s valuation will include a mix of realized and speculative value, those that build toward creating cash flows and accruing equity on their land will be able to sustain higher land values and a leg up in the market (especially in public spaces). Higher quality experiences on one parcel will lead to more users and opportunities for neighbors and the network at large creating a virtuous cycle.

Another piece of the puzzle for us to support digital real estate development on the Geo Web is the DID:NFT method. This standard can effectively give our digital land parcel NFTs a person-like identity. 

Our digital land parcels can permanently own content linked to them, they can accrue history/reputation, and they can even potentially spend directed allocations of network funds “on themselves.” Art installations, digital architecture crafted for unique environments, and even social/transactional infrastructure can become permanent (but optional) fixtures of digital land parcels. 

Without something like DID:NFT, land transfers on the Geo Web would be analogous to buying a piece of physical land with a house on it, then having the house immediately disappear. That’s not a conducive dynamic for long-term investment and value accrual.

We’re excited to continue to experiment with different primitives like these and more importantly see the directions empowered landowners take Geo Web experiences.

On to the updates…

Technical

  • We created a new tutorial video with the latest functionality on the Cadastre and Browser. We’re going to be rolling out lots of features and updates, so we’ll be making a lot of these in the coming months. Any video production gurus/natural born voice over artists out there? Slide into the DMs. We can offer bounties and SourceCred...
  • We added labels to web and 3D media content on the Geo Web Spatial Browser (https://github.com/Geo-Web-Project/browser/pull/20).
  • We have a branch of the Cadastre integrated with Estuary for even better IPFS pinning and Filecoin archiving nearing completion. If we must say so ourselves, our p2p publishing experience is getting pretty slick... 
  • When we made the switch from using an ERC-20 token (test GEO) to Kovan ETH for the land market at the last registry reset, a few minor things broke on the Cadastre, and we overlooked a UI element needed to complement a modification to a smart contract transaction (claiming land sales proceeds rather than directly depositing them for security reasons). We’ll have those items cleaned up soon.

Community

  • Gitcoin Grant Round 10 closes tomorrow 7/1 at 6 PM (MDT/UTC-6). We’ve already set a new high-water mark for contributions to our Geo Web grant. Thank you! We’re excited to continue (larger) SourceCred distributions and bounties for the project in Q3 funded by all the generous support. If you want to start contributing to the Geo Web project/community in any way and receiving SourceCred payouts, just hit up Cody or Graven on Discord.
  • Ceramic Network is officially live! We’ve been one of the lucky few projects to be part of their Early Launch Program which is going to stay in place for the next 3-4ish months until the network goes fully permissionless. We highly encourage any web3 builders to experiment with their Clay testnet and apply for the ELP if you’re ready to take an idea to the next level.
  • ETHDenver officially launched their SporkDAO and $SPORK token to decentralize governance of their annual BUIDLathon, incubator, and venture group. ETHDenver has built one of the best conferences and communities in the Ethereum space, so we’re excited to see where this governance experiment goes!

On Deck

  • Additional features on the Spatial Browser
  • Wallet integrations to the Cadastre
  • Cadastre clean up

Geo Web Newsletter

Get our blog posts delivered to your inbox.

Almost there... Check your inbox (or possibly your spam) and confirm your subscription!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Scroll to top