7 hot location-based apps you should know about

Location, Location, Location.Location Based Applications:

A Look at 7 Top Apps. by @ShaunaCausey

Foursquare (@Foursquare) Lovingly Made in NYC.

• Our new past time: stalking each other.• “A Scavenger Hunt on Steroids.”• “Could Be The Next Twitter” –Mashable Article

from 2009

Why it stands out:

• Simple and Easy: It’s the Craigslist of location based applications.

• Fosters friendly competition:– Mayorship: if you check in the most at a location, you become mayor. – Points tally: Shows points between friends and an overall points

system for the entire city.

• Longer term rewards: collect badges for all kinds of different reasons.

See Your Friends:

A list of local spots. “Places” tab:

Note: Some of the locations are not real locations. For instance, people may enter their house or a name for their house like the “Castle in the Clouds.”

See tips about local places:

FLAIR! Collect Badges:

Competition: Collect Points, See Your Rank Against Others.

Credit: www.StatusThis.com

Gowalla (@Gowalla)Lovingly Made in Austin, Texas

A recent Gowalla cause related campaign:

Gowalla: Your Passport to the World.

• A travel game that rewards you for visiting places.

• Collect stamps on your phone, similar to when you’re traveling abroad and visiting countries.

• Gather virtual souvenirs, or what they call “icons,” that can be traded with friends or hidden for others to find.

Gowall Tabs

• Passport: Your general overview of how many places you’ve visited (similar to a real passport).

• Spots section: Shows you nearby venues/businesses.

• Trips: A related collection of spots. If you visit all the spots in the a “trip” you earn a certain a “Pin of Glory,” an award to you for completing specific trips.

• Friends’ Activity: Similar to Foursquare, people you know and accept as friends (who can see where you’re located).

Passport Tab:

Trips Tab: Ideas for a series of things to do in an area:

urbanspoonWhy it Stands Out: Creative interface.

Started as a resource for Seattle, then branched out to other cities.

It’s fun to use! Shake the phone!

Choose a category, shake

the phone, ideas flip

through until it lands on one. Shake it again

for a new idea.

Great overview of local restaurants.

Map incorporated which is helpful:

Yelp (@Yelp)

Why it Stands Out:

• All the info you can ever need for the ultimate foodie. In an easy format. You can also check-in similar to Foursquare.

• Comprehensive: In my tests, it had the best information on local restaurants of any other location based app. By far. No contest. – Reader reviews, price comparisons, and photos of the

food/business location are helpful.

Tab Showing Nearby Restaurants

Check out all the information! Easy format.

Digging Deeper for more info on a specific restaurant. I’m going to eat at Cactus!

Now that I’m at Cactus, I have some options:

Looking up some photos to figure out what to order:

The photos helped me figure out what to order: Soft tacos.

Starbucks! (@Starbucks)Seattle-based.

Why it Stands Out:

• If you are addicted to coffee and enjoy Starbucks coffee, this app will make your life easier.

Helpful features: • Save your favorite drinks• Save your friends’ favorite drinks• Find the nearest Starbucks store

Nice interface. Easy to use.

Easily find the nearest Starbucks.

Save your friends’ favorite drinks for the next coffee run.

CauseWorld: Geolocation For Good.Helping injured puppies, one check-in at a time.

Why it stands out:• A great idea: cause marketing• Sponsor Support

Where it falls short:• Can’t see friends’ check-ins• Can’t see a real impact/proof of how

you’re karma points help• Can’t add friends from other social

media networks

“The wonderful thing about the service is that big corporations have an incentive to donate more to charity. They get regular people to choose where that money goes... The folks at Citi and Kraft are brilliant for jumping on this early.”- Michael Arrington, TechCrunch

Nice interface & graphics. Easy to use.

Collect karma points to donate to non-profits:

Donate Page:

See how other people are using their karma points. But, who are these people? I am not connected to

them.

“More” Page. I’d like to invite friends…

This is what comes up when I click “Invite Friends.” An auto populated message. I did not like this feature, didn’t send the

message to any friends.

Whrrl (@Whrrl)Photos, Seattle-based.

Slides provided by Whrrl.

40Pelago, Inc. Confidential

Basic User Experience

User checks in

Select

Select

Local places User controls privacy On the grid

Users check in everywhere they go in Whrrl to be “on the grid” (visible to friends), remember and share the places they go and the people they spend time with.

Select

41Pelago, Inc. Confidential

Merchant Offers

Select

Users check in and will see merchant offers pop up nearby.

Select

42

Societies

Select

Whrrl Societies are circles of people who share the same real world patterns. The purpose of Societies is to share “insider knowledge” in the form of recommendations, offers and stories.

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43Pelago, Inc. Confidential

Whrrl Stories

Users can capture their experiences with photos and notes, and share updates with friends on Facebook and Twitter. Users can invite friends join to their check-ins. Their friends’ photos and notes are grouped into their story.

44

Offers Can Activate Social Activity

Check-ins are opportunities to activate customers at place- opportunities to activate sharing to Twitter/Facebook, capture rich media and activate new experiences.

Select

45

Pilot Opportunities

Key Features DescriptionBranded Society Brand Your own your own place SocietyCustom Offers Activate, spread and compel consumers to come backCustom Fun Facts Custom fun facts at your locationBranded Stories Brand every check-in to your place on the web.Influence Metrics Whrrl can aggregate metrics around in-venue activity, social

activation, and the virality of offers.

Why Do You Use Location Based Apps?

Others that are noteworthy…

LooptBrightKiteAroundMeMoximity

WhereLimbo!Gypsii

CitySenseMobiLuck

PlazesGoogle Latitude

iPling

One that I’m now trying out…

Resources

• www.LBSZone.com (difficult layout but has good info)

• www.Mashable.com

• Will somebody please create a great location-based services blog?