Outdoor discovery

Find outdoor places that fit your plans

Alcove helps you compare outdoor places by quiet, access, distance, and current conditions—from an easy nearby walk to a dark place for stargazing.

Explore the idea Follow the beta

A person walking toward a rocky alcove on a Colorado forest trail — Built in ColoradoMade to help more people get outside

A different starting point

Start with the kind of trip you want

Most outdoor tools begin with mileage, elevation, or popularity. Alcove begins with how a place may feel, then adds the practical information needed to make a responsible choice.

Discover

Compare the setting, not just the route

Compare quieter possibilities using natural-sound context, practical access, weather, drive time, cost, and source confidence.

Friends

Plan with people you trust

Share recommendations, favorites, ratings, and lists without turning time outside into a public competition.

Stars

Plan the whole night out

Darkness estimates, cloud conditions, moon context, access, and drive time help turn stargazing into a more realistic outing.

A shaded forest stream flowing between trees and boulders

Sound is part of place

Maps do not tell you what a place sounds like

Wind in aspens, moving water, traffic, aircraft, crowds, and long stretches of quiet can completely change the same landscape. Alcove treats sound as useful planning context while clearly separating estimates, observations, and future measurements.

See the research and methodology

The next data layer

A plan to track how places sound over time

The proposed GeoSonic Sound Network uses small field devices to analyze sound locally. It is being designed to upload only aggregate sound levels, broad sound-type patterns, conditions, and device health - never field audio.

This is a staged research project, not a claim of a statewide live network today.

Explore the GeoSonic plan

Illustrative aggregate pattern

No audio uploadedSound level / broad type / conditions / quality

Colorado roots

From a student project to Alcove

Initial planning and brainstorming took place during Colorado Academy's REDI Lab Summer Program in 2024. Later work in a Denver East High School Science Research class taught by David Scalisi helped shape the GeoSonic system.

The independent project continues alongside mechanical engineering study at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, bringing together outdoor experience, programming, photography, and engineering.

Read the project story and creator background

The guiding idea

Technology should make it easier to choose a place and get outside without taking over the experience.

Trust before scale

Clear sources and honest limits

Alcove shows its sources, explains estimates, requests permissions only when needed, and provides a clear way to report problems.

Label the source

Modeled, community-observed, field-measured, or unknown should never look identical.

Ask in context

Location, contacts, and photo access remain optional and tied to a clear action. The current beta has no microphone or sound-recording entry point.

Review public impact

Community submissions can affect public place information only after moderation.

Make correction easy

Research questions, access barriers, privacy requests, and content corrections have public contact paths.

Private beta

Alcove is getting ready for its first TestFlight testers

See what is next

Coming soon to theApp Store Coming soon toGoogle Play