Looking to get into semi local exploration

[OG_Grinskin]

Hi there, I've been wanting to find some cool places for a while, but other than browsing here and hoping I find somewhere that's not too far, but because of the vast scope of the place it's proving difficult so source places.

How did you guys get started? Did you get friends that tipped you off? Or is there some secret source of locations I'm unaware of?

Any help or advice would be great!

 

[dansgas1000]

Hello and welcome. There are many different ways to find places both big and small. The search function on here is handy, simply type in your county and tick 'Titles Only' and have a look through, hopefully, there will be some recent ones in your area. From there you can Google the place name and most of the time you'll be able to find the location eventually. There are some other useful tools such as old OS Maps and Geograph, the latter can be a bit outdated but there is recent stuff on there too. Use the browser function and type 'derelict' in the search bar, that's a good start! Good luck.

 

[OG_Grinskin]

Hello and welcome. There are many different ways to find places both big and small. The search function on here is handy, simply type in your county and tick 'Titles Only' and have a look through, hopefully, there will be some recent ones in your area. From there you can Google the place name and most of the time you'll be able to find the location eventually. There are some other useful tools such as old OS Maps and Geograph, the latter can be a bit outdated but there is recent stuff on there too. Use the browser function and type 'derelict' in the search bar, that's a good start! Good luck.

Brill, that's a good start! I'll get searching! Hopefully I'll be able to find something postworthy soon. Thanks for the advice.

 

[dansgas1000]

Brill, that's a good start! I'll get searching! Hopefully I'll be able to find something postworthy soon. Thanks for the advice.

No problem, good luck with the search. You can easily spend hours using those sources to find places!

 

[Westcountry Explorer]

If there is a secret source of locations, I'm also unaware of it lol

Some of the places I've visited, I've got them from YouTube vids. As a rule of thumb, places on YouTube have been hit by the tour bus; if you find a place via YouTube don't expect much from it.
One of my friends is an urbexer as well, we swap pins as well. He's better at finding pins than I am but I have more time to get out and explore; it works wells in that he can give me pin and I then go suss it out.
I've found a few places by doing a Google search for fire damaged properties and searching through the news reports etc.
There's also the good old 'Keeping your eyes open' (For want of a better way of putting it.) as you go about your daily life. It is sometimes as simple as looking around at buildings as you're walking along. One of my better finds was by simply looking around whilst answering a call of nature behind a village church. Granted, there was an element of luck involved in that one lol

Hope that helps you a bit and good luck

 

[Scoobysrt]

There are some great threads full of advice about finding locations.

A particularly good tip is to type your area in Google followed with 'due to close' or go to your local paper website and put 'closed it's doors'. You'll get a whole load of stuff come up, choose stuff that happened at least a few weeks ago and start your research there.

If you're into military stuff or underground stuff there's sites dedicated to those with maps and details.

I dont know if they are all still going as I've had a break for a year or two but subterranean brittanica, audit now, disused tunnels database, edob online, free lidar scans amongst others are all good starting places.
Google maps on satellite view is your friend.

Take the rough with the smooth when starting out, don't pick and choose only the cool sites, go to everything you find, a site is as good as you make or allow it to be. A relaxed mooch around some fallen down factory is often much more pleasant than running around a just closed co-op hiding from security.

 

[Bikin Glynn]

As all the above there is no secret location giving site, why would there be?
people build up their maps through years of hard work & generally will only share locations with others that have done the same.

Honestly just scouring google maps is you best place to start. yes its time consuming but concentrate on your local area & work out, look carefully for anything that looks run down then go check it out. you may find only 1 in 10 are actually abandoned or any good but thats what the hobby is about "exploring" you cant just get a list of places that you know are great & are guaranteed to get in, even for the most experienced thats rarely the case.

 

[Speed]

We are the 'secret location giving site' just hiding in plain sight.

Your real problem is there very very few decent places out there now. To the point where even experienced explorers really struggle to find anything worth posting. When we do find good stuff we have to keep it off the public internet to protect it from being ruined by the hords of other people looking. Kind of a negative feedback loop going on!

If you're new it must be very difficult compared to when I started but then again it's not impossible. I still have a big list of 'leads' on potential places that it's tricky to get people to check out. Take Cinemas for example. A quick Google will give you leads on 100s of disused cinemas, theatres, bingo halls and the like. The chances are you will have at least one fairly local. Might not be easily accessible but you never know if you dont look. The days of being able to stay local for everything went along time ago now tho. If you want a regular hobby anyway. Have to put the miles and hours in nowadays which I can see is a big barrier to new people but if you do it relentlessly you will find stuff. Sharing it here will get recognition for your finds and you will soon find yourself with access to the non-public sections of this forum where you can benefit from the latest info on what's out there.

Good luck!