There’s an app for that: finding a sunny cafe in Paris, the city of light | Technology

IN August, Paris, as the armies of the inhabitants, in a non -characteristic way quiet disintegrate For an annual holiday, the country’s beaches and shores. Businesses close and the city almost stops. Among the remains, there is an eternal, essence of Parisian task: hunting for Balmy terrasse One evening, he was washed in sunlight for Apéritif.

Finding a perfect seat on the sidewalk outside a café can be a chance walk from a friend or a timely text issue. However, this summer, a digital solution gained popularity in a extremely French example of the old Apple slogan. This comes especially at a precarious moment for Parisian quest.

Jean-Charles Levenne created Jveuxoleil in 2020 as a side project to teach him to develop application and solve a personal problem: find shadow on hot days and sunny points for post-worker drinks Paris ritual.

Levenne’s application, which uses sun positioning algorithms and building height data from the open -source map platform OpenStreetmap, shows sunny terraces, while the dark ones disappear. Users can also request new points through the application or when they are not correct (for example, a previously uncalled shadow -poured tree), a constantly developing, community -guided tool. While technology works in other cities, most of the terraces in the application are in Paris, where Levenne says it is particularly useful.

“This application works worldwide, but initially focused on Paris because there is more need from other French cities,” he said. “It is not always easy to find a sunny place with narrow streets and high buildings.”

The terraces function as observation poles to be displayed by Paris – chairs, usually on both sides of small bistrot tables, looking at each other to look at the street and allow restaurants to cross the world. With France’s lack of overturning culture, there is less pressure to quickly turn the tables to make more profit. The person can order a cup of less than 2 € and stay for hours – the terrace makes Parisis something from a second living room.

Pierrick Bourgault is a photographer and journalist who has written about 20 books and has been released A documentary He said about the Bistro culture in France that Terrarac in Paris offered one of the most authentic windows to the city.

“Terrace is a certain symbolic Art de Vivre (The art of life), as we said in France – a place where all kinds of people meet, Bour Bourgault said. You are not alone in a closed area. Like a little [being in] The street, one foot inside and a foot outside. You’re in the city and the demonstration of life. “

In search of sun after the darkest winter in decades

Jveuxdusoleil’s user base has steadily climbed in the years since the launch – before my interview with Levenne, who left the world of technology and calls me from a captain yacht on the Balear Islands on the coast of Spain. Application use Spikes in the spring, when the Parisians are desperate for sunlight after the bad winter months.

This year, Jveuxdusoleil saw the summit of about 20,000 visitors in just one week in early March after France’s experience. Darkest Year in 30 years In 2024. Paris Especially folded multiple stretching In winter, about a week without a single sunlight. Jveuxdusoleil is a purely passion project and Levenne does not make any profits from him. “In fact, hosting servers costs me money,” he said.

He said that Jveuxdusoleil’s uncomplicated nature is part of his charm. The properties are minimal: It positions itself as a kind of anti-thing application with a single slider that determines time and sunlight.

Can an application revive the decrease terrasse culture?

Although Jveuxdusoleil’s user is not absolutely not common – many young French people I talked about on the terraces of Paris – the presence of the existence – showing a technological embrace of Bistrot culture in France at a very important time.

According to an official French heritage inventory document presented in May 2024, the number of bistrots in France fell less than 500,000 in 1900 in 1900. The document also stated that the number of Bistrots fell from 5,000-6,000 to 1000 today in the 1970-80s. A coalition of French Bistrot holders Successful guaranteed National recognition in September 2024. Similarly Campaign since 2018 For organizations for UNESCO World Heritage.

In the last century, Bourgault binds this “massacre olan, which connects the density of bistrots in France to a threat dam, which continued from a café per 100 from a café per 100. The rise of cars and highways directed traffic from such organizations throughout the country, while television, smartphones and digital communication replaced the need to meet friends on local terrace. Similarly, the report of Bistrot owners changes globalization and consumer preferences to risk for Bistrot culture.

The 1941 law forbids the creation of a new café and allows only existing licenses to be taken over, which enabled the number of Bistrots, especially in Paris, to employ and protect these organizations less financially. French commentators for a long time have captured the “Americanization of Paris”. Some note As more traditional bistrots are closed, McDonalds rapidly spread to France and becomes a de facto meeting place for many young people.

Pierrick said the rise of technology contributed to the decrease of bistrots; People can order delivery on their phones, and when they go out, they are usually glued to their devices instead of chatting with strangers. Comptoir. At that time, ironic said that an application could actually strengthen Paris’s bistrot culture.

“With its geographical visualization, the application positions you in the concrete world – reminds us that we are on earth, reminding us that there is a moving sun and the rotating world.”

“When we meet friends in a Bistrot, we don’t meet in the cloud – we meet in a cafe containing different personality, characters and decors,” he added. “We know that we are not two artificial intelligence [in the process] The change of digital protocols. We talk to each other and we certainly know that it is real without a shadow. “