Nearlist: Real-Time Map for Local News You Can Actually Trust

What if you could see the news around you on a live map, right as it’s happening? Not filtered by algorithms, not buried in a feed, and not just from major outlets, but reported and verified by people in your own community?

Introducing Nearlist: Real-Time Map for Local News You Can Actually Trust

Nearlist is a map-based local news app where anyone can report nearby events in real time. From school closures to street protests, from lost pets to garage sales, Nearlist brings the news back to the people who live it. It’s local news with eyes on the ground, made interactive and transparent.

How It Works

Open the app. Turn on location.

You’ll see a live map filled with user-submitted posts from your area. Each one is pinned to a real location and time.

Tap on one and you’ll find:

• 🚧 A flooding alert from a commuter
• 🔎 A missing cat poster from three blocks away
• 🎉 A new coffee shop soft-opening next to your gym
• 🎭 A high school musical performance this weekend
• 💼 A small business closing due to rising rent
• 🗳 Info on a town hall meeting about rezoning
• 🚨 A break-in, with a linked Citizen or police update
• 📚 School schedule changes
• 🧘‍♀️ Free yoga at the community center
• 🍞 A neighbor selling homemade sourdough on Sundays
• 🎨 Street mural going up with a link to the artist’s Instagram
• 🪧 Protest brewing in front of city hall in real time

Anyone can post. No need to be a professional journalist. You just need to be there.

Nearlist doesn’t just cover breaking news. It captures the full spectrum of local life. That means serious updates like road closures, missing persons, or flooding , but also softer stories that make a neighborhood feel alive. A new coffee shop quietly opening. A weekend flea market popping up. A local kid’s lemonade stand. A mural going up on the side of the laundromat. In most news apps, these kinds of updates wouldn’t make the cut. But Nearlist treats them as part of the story too, because they are. When you put both the urgent and the ordinary on the same map, you start to see a more complete picture of the place you live in.

But Can We Trust It?

That’s the most important part.

Each post has an “Approve” button, like Reddit’s upvote, but for truth. The more people in the area who click approve, the more credible it becomes.

Plus, we add a layer of trust with Verified Fact Checkers: Trusted locals who apply and are approved based on simple, transparent criteria, such as being longtime residents, public service workers, or educators. If they approve a post, it gets a “Verified” badge and moves higher on the map.

People can also:

• Link to news articles from local papers
• Add photos or video
• Leave clarifying comments or context

It’s like a collaborative local newsroom in your pocket.

To keep the platform safe and reliable, Nearlist includes basic moderation tools. Users can report misleading or harmful posts, and content is reviewed to prevent misinformation or abuse. The goal is to keep communities informed without compromising trust.

A New Ally for Local News

Nearlist isn’t trying to replace local journalism. It’s here to support it.

When users post about something that’s already been covered by a professional newsroom (say, a city council vote or a restaurant closure) they can add a direct link to that article. The app will highlight it with a gentle prompt like “Want to learn more?” or “Dive deeper into this story.” It gives local outlets the credit they deserve and the traffic they need, while helping readers connect the dots between what they see and the reporting behind it.

Over time, this can strengthen the relationship between professional journalists and the communities they serve, creating more visibility and engagement for both sides.

How It’s Different

You might be wondering: Wait… doesn’t this already exist?

Kind of, but not quite.

• Nextdoor is like a neighborhood forum. It’s feed-based, mostly text-heavy. It’s great for chatter, but it doesn’t give you a visual sense of what’s happening around you at this very moment.
• Citizen focuses on real-time safety alerts like crimes, police activity, and accidents. But it’s narrowly focused on emergencies and built around fear. You won’t find feel-good stories or civic events there, just sirens.
• Snap Map shows where your friends are and lets you explore public Snaps on a map. It’s playful and social, but not built for verified or lasting local updates.

Nearlist brings the best of all three with a twist:

• It’s map-based and real-time, like Snap Map.
• It covers hard news, like Citizen.
• It embraces everyday life and community vibes, like Nextdoor.

But unlike any of them, it’s structured to let you report, verify, and connect, all in one glance. A local news layer that lives on a map, where information is public, useful, and collectively vetted.

Why It Matters

Local news is quietly vanishing. Fewer journalists are covering your neighborhood. Smaller events never make it online. Community info is scattered across random apps, if it shows up at all.

But people still care about what’s happening nearby. That’s where Nearlist comes in.

Nearlist turns everyday observations into shared awareness. It helps people feel grounded, connected, and in the loop. It’s a lightweight, collective way to rebuild local news from the ground up, while growing alongside the newsrooms that still serve these communities.

What Do You Think?

Would you use an app like this? What features would make it more useful, more trustworthy, or more fun? What would you want to see on the map? Would love to hear your thoughts. Let me know in the comments!

👩🏻‍💻 About me
Started as a newsroom intern, then worked as a newspaper reporter for a few years. Studied media innovation in grad school, worked at a news aggregator app, and now I’m on the AI service team at TikTok. I’m into all things news, product, and AI — especially how tech can help good journalism win.