Edmonton man develops app encouraging people to explore their communities

For the past few months, Kyle Bauder has been working on an app.

It’s called Zelse —a fun way to explore Edmonton and see different landmarks.

“It’s basically getting people to get off the couch, go get involved in their community, go do things,” Bauder said.

Users can go on missions and earn points.

“Through the points you can level up, you can redeem the points,” Bauder explained.

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“You can create your own missions so people can come up with missions in their city, like a little local spot they might have — they might be able to come up with a mission for that.”

In Edmonton, there are more than 20 missions to go on, including to the Alberta legislature, The Ship at West Edmonton Mall and the Talus Dome, to name a few.

Users verify their visits through picture submissions.

“You might see a location pop up and you might think, oh, I actually haven’t been to that before, or maybe I haven’t been there for a while, and maybe it’s fun to go out and see that site rather than thinking you’ve seen everything in Edmonton, for example,” Bauder said.

Bauder’s idea has expanded beyond the Edmonton area. He’s added 654 cities worldwide.

“I know there’s one guy in Norway, he’s starting it, so he’s going to let me know how that goes. I have a friend in Russia. I have a few friends around the world — so get some feedback and try it out,” Bauder said.

The app will soon be available in the Apple and Google Play stores.