TatraOh this hot day, I decided I wanted to find out where ice cream vans were (or would be) near me. I failed, but I think what I found was quite interesting; 3 different sites that take quite different approaches to providing this data... none of which work, and at least one of which is definitely AI slop 🧵
https://scooptrackuk.com was first. Track vans, for free, apparently. I tried signing up, and... it just won't let me create an account. Can't use it.
That may be upsetting to ice cream van vendors (henchforth to be called "vandors"), because the way this site gets its data is getting vandors to pay them, monthly. £60 a year gets you listed on the site, with discount for fleets. In theory, anyway, I cannot test it.
I have no direct evidence, but I'm pretty sure this site, apparently founded by the imaginatively-named "<cons</coding>", is a Gen AI creation. My favourite bit is how the admin console for the site is just right there. It doesn't work, but I suspect that has less to do with it not letting me set up an account, and more just being vibe-coded garbage.
https://whippymap.co.uk takes the gameification route. How does it know where the vans are? You tell it! When you see a van, you update the map so other people know. (Van operators can also register their vans themselves.)
Across the UK, 27 vans are on the site. That's not "currently active", that's total. Oh, and it's also only free "during launch" - they say We want genuine operators on board before any paid plans exist", but it's not clear who pays for those plans. At least this doesn't demand a log-in to just look up vans near me.
(It has no vans near me.)
Last is https://myiscream.com. The way this one works is... it doesn't. Yet.
This one is, supposedly, going to launch area-by-area. If you're in Rickmansworth, great news; you represent a quarter of the areas this thing will support once it goes live, which it hasn't done yet. Vanders can already start paying to be included, though, for just £65 a year. For a service no-one looking for them can access.
My fave bit about this is there's a little calculator vanders can use to see their predicted return, based on how many vans they have and how many extra cones they'll sell... Except the _vander_ is the one that sets that prediction. How much gain will you actually see? Who knows! (Literally no-one.)
Actually, my favourite bit of that predictor is it shows the predicted monthly extra revenue... which doesn't actually account for the cost for the service. You, too, can get an estimated £50 extra a month for just £65 a month! What a savings!
