PixTrak is a cameraphone-based game inspired by connections to New York City and the things that make it unique, like guitar teacher Dan Smith's ubiquitous flyers. Players take a picture of a Dan Smith poster and send it in via MMS or email along with the street address where they spotted it. The picture is then added to the PixTrak site, where visitors can view the photos, mapped out across the city. Players are awarded points for spotting posters, and bonus points for being the first to discover a particular poster.

Having been in New York for 10 years, I've seen Dan Smith's flyers all over New York City. It struck me that this is one of the signs that you're a New Yorker: you know who Dan Smith is. I am also amazed by how much this guy gets around. I thought it would be a fun, collaborative project to see just how wide Dan Smith's reach is, and in the process give New Yorkers an opportunity to connect with one of the little elements that makes the city unique.

Anyone who lives, works or plays in New York, who has a cameraphone.

User sees a Dan Smith poster for the first time. Takes a picture of it and sends it in with the street address to ds@pixtrak.com. User gets a reply, welcoming to the game and letting them know that they were the first to spot that poster. Later, the user visits pixtrak.com and explores the map of posters including their own; user sets out to discover more Dan Smith posters along her path, in order to rack up points, and to see just how many posters Dan Smith has out there!

There are three main components: a 'popper' perl script which grabs the messages from the mailserver; a php logic file which process the user photo and address (using Yahoo's Geocoder), and adds to the database, as well as processing user commands like requesting statistics or challenges; and the website, which facilitates viewing the posters in a map view, as well as modfiying user settings and seeing game statistics.