Find Abandoned Places Automatically with the Urbexology Bot
Discover abandoned buildings near any city automatically. Type /find in the Urbexology Discord and get fresh urbex spots with photos and coordinates.
Every urban explorer knows the grind: hours on forums, old news articles and map apps, chasing rumors of an abandoned factory that turns out to be demolished, renovated or guarded. Finding good spots is the hardest part of urbex, and the community has always treated locations like trade secrets.
The Urbexology Discord server now has a different answer: an automatic spot finder. You name a place, and the bot searches a wide area around it for abandoned-looking buildings, then posts what it finds directly in the channel with a photo, the address, exact coordinates and a Google Maps link. No begging for locations, no recycled lists, no paywalls.
This guide covers what the spot finder does, how to use the /find command, and how to turn a fresh find into a safe, legal exploration.
What Is the Urbexology Spot Finder?
The spot finder is a Discord bot that runs exclusively in the Urbexology Discord server. Its job is simple to state: given any location on Earth, surface buildings that look abandoned.
Instead of pulling from a fixed database of well-known ruins, it actively hunts for candidates in the area you ask about. That means it can surface places that no urbex forum, blog or map has ever documented, including buildings that even local explorers have walked past without noticing.
Each candidate is posted as a card in the channel with everything you need to evaluate it from your couch:
- An overhead preview image of the site
- The place name and address, when one exists
- Exact latitude and longitude coordinates
- A one-click Open in Google Maps link
- A likelihood rating, so you can prioritize the strongest candidates
The strongest finds are the interesting ones: forgotten industrial sites, empty farmhouses, shuttered institutions and structures that simply fell off everyone's radar. For context on the classic manual methods the bot replaces, see our guide on how to find abandoned places near you.
Why Automatic Discovery Beats Manual Research
Manual location research still works, but it has three structural problems.
It only finds what someone already documented. Forums and location lists circulate the same spots for years. By the time a place is famous enough to appear in a list, it is often stripped, tagged, sealed or patrolled.
It is slow. Cross-referencing old maps, street view and news archives can eat an entire evening for a single lead.
It does not travel. Moving to a new city, or planning a trip abroad, resets your local knowledge to zero.
The spot finder flips all three. It looks at areas, not archives, so undocumented buildings are exactly what it is built to surface. A search takes about a minute, not an evening. And it works the same whether you point it at your hometown or a city you have never visited. You still bring the judgment, the bot brings the leads.
How to Use the /find Command in Discord
Using the bot takes one command in the dedicated channel:
- Join the server at discord.gg/urbexology.
- Equip the Urbexology server tag (in Discord: Settings, then Profiles, then Server Tag). The bot is a community perk, and the tag is your key to it.
- Type the command:
/find location:followed by a place name or raw coordinates. Both work: /find location: Detroit/find location: 50.0755, 14.4378- Watch the channel. The bot confirms how many candidate spots it found near your location, then posts them one by one as cards.
A few practical notes. Searches run one at a time so the channel stays readable, and there is a short cooldown between your searches (about ten minutes). If you change your mind mid-search, /cancel stops the remaining posts, and /status tells you when your next search is available. Everything happens in the public channel, so you also benefit from every search other members run.
What You Get with Every Spot
Each posted spot is designed to be actionable without leaving Discord:
| Card element | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Overhead preview | Judge size, roof condition and surroundings at a glance |
| Address and place name | Understand what the building was and where it sits |
| Exact coordinates | Drop them into any GPS or offline map app |
| Google Maps link | One tap to street view, routing and nearby parking |
| Likelihood rating | Triage which candidates deserve your attention first |
Treat every card as a lead, not a promise. Buildings get demolished, renovated and reoccupied, and no automated system replaces your own verification. The likelihood rating tells you where to start, not where to trespass. Before any visit, do the same due diligence you would for a spot from any source: check recent street view, look for activity, and confirm the legal situation with our country-by-country legality guide.
Community Verification: Vote on Every Find
Every spot card carries three reactions: abandoned, not abandoned, and unsure. Anyone in the server can vote, you can change your vote at any time, and the latest vote counts.
This matters for two reasons. First, votes are visible, so a card with a stack of confirmations from other members is a far stronger lead than a fresh, unvoted one. Second, the finder learns from this feedback, so every vote makes future searches sharper for everyone. Voting on spots you recognize, even ones you have no intention of visiting, is the single easiest way to give back to the community.
It is location-sharing without the gatekeeping: the finds are fresh, the verification is collective, and nobody has to burn a personal spot to contribute.
Always-On Scanning Between Searches
The bot does not go idle after your search finishes. It keeps exploring around the most recent search area on its own and posts new potential spots to the channel as it finds them, around the clock.
In practice, the channel becomes a slow, continuous feed of fresh candidates. Members check in, vote on the overnight finds, and jump on anything promising near them. Run /find on a new location whenever you want to redirect the scan, or just lurk and let other people's searches feed your list.
Getting Access: Join and Equip the Server Tag
Access is deliberately simple and free:
- Join the Urbexology Discord.
- Open Discord Settings, go to Profiles, select Server Tag, and pick Urbexology.
- Head to the bot channel and run your first
/find.
The server tag requirement keeps the finder inside the community rather than turning it into an anonymous public utility, which protects both the spots and the people who visit them. Wearing the tag also signals other explorers on Discord that you are part of the crew.
/findFrom Discord Spot to Real-World Exploration
A good lead is the start of the process, not the end. Once a spot has caught your eye:
- Verify before you travel. Recent street view, county records and a drive-by beat any rating.
- Sort out the legal side. An abandoned look does not mean abandoned ownership. Seek permission where possible and read up on urbex law by country.
- Gear up properly. Structural decay, asbestos and broken glass are the real risks. Our urbex gear and safety checklist covers the essentials.
- Explore like you were never there. Take photos, leave everything else. The ethics and etiquette guide explains the code that keeps spots alive.
- Close the loop. Back in Discord, vote on the card and share what you found. Your confirmation makes the next explorer's search better.
If you are new to all of this, start with the complete beginner's guide to urban exploration before chasing your first automated find, and browse thousands of community-documented locations on the Urbexology map.
The spot finder will not climb the fence for you. What it does is collapse the slowest, most gatekept part of urbex, the search, into a single Discord command. Name a city, get candidates, verify, explore responsibly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The spot finder is a free perk for members of the Urbexology Discord server. You only need to join the server and equip the Urbexology server tag in your Discord profile settings. There are no paid tiers, credits or subscriptions.
No. The bot never asks for your device location. You type any place name or coordinates into the /find command, so you can search your own city, a road-trip stop or a destination abroad without sharing anything about yourself.
Each find is a candidate with a likelihood rating, not a guarantee. Community votes on each card add human verification over time. Always confirm a location yourself with recent street view and local research before visiting, and treat unvoted cards with extra skepticism.
No. The bot works exclusively inside the official Urbexology Discord server, in its dedicated channel. It cannot be invited to other servers or used via DM, which keeps the community in control of how finds are shared.
The bot only tells you a building looks abandoned. Ownership, trespassing laws and access rules vary by country and by property, and many abandoned-looking sites remain private. Research the legal status, seek permission where possible, and never force entry.