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First things first
What do I need to get started?
What do I need to get started?
Katya Zavyalova avatar
Written by Katya Zavyalova
Updated over a week ago

A computer with the Chrome, Firefox or Brave desktop browser installed.

The MetaMask digital wallet.

  • MetaMask is a free browser extension that allows you to access digital currencies and tokens like Ether and FOAM. 

  • This is like a bank account so make sure to keep your details safe. 

  • Nobody can help recover your passphrase since it’s a decentralized system.

For more questions about MetaMask, visit their support at
https://metamask.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

FOAM Tokens

To add and verify locations you need FOAM tokens. The token is used to participate in the FOAM Map, and grants control over the registry of points of interest (POIs) to the community. A stake of FOAM tokens is required to create a new POI, which will be lost if the POI is found to be not valid, helping to prevent fraud.

Here are some more ways that FOAM tokens are used in the Map:

  • Locations are ranked and maintained by token balances. 

  • Cartographers stake FOAM tokens to locations on the map to boost the attention that location receives. 

  • Token rewards incentivise people to verify locations, driving crowd participation in the generation and verification of POI data. 

For more information see:
How do I get FOAM tokens?

Ether (to pay gas)

To participate in FOAM Map, you need a balance of ETH (the currency of the Ethereum Network) in your MetaMask wallet. This is because the FOAM Map runs on the Ethereum blockchain, a distributed computing platform and operating system, to enable a fully decentralized map.

If your balance of ETH in MetaMask is too low, you will see the error message: “Insufficient balance for transaction”.

For more information see:
Gas in the Map Guide

Or watch the step-by-step explainer video:

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