The bench has no radius

Every proximity app has a radius. Five hundred metres, two kilometres, ten. And they all have the same problem on day one: inside the radius, there is nobody.

Le Banc has no radius. The algorithm is greedy and fits in a sentence: find the non-full bench whose centre is nearest, and sit down on it, whatever the distance. If there isn't one, create a bench.

The accepted consequence

At launch, the first users from around the world all end up on the same bench. Someone in Brussels, someone in Osaka, someone in Montreal.

Firmin · ~9,400 km

It's the best accident in the product. Conversation is guaranteed from day one, and the distance on screen becomes the opening joke by itself. Nobody asks "where are you?" when the app has already answered.

And once you're seated, you stay. No rebalancing during the day: we don't pull anyone out of a conversation because an algorithm found something better.