The idea is to have an app that allows you to access information if you are at a certain location. There are many virtual tour guides available and geocaching has been around for ages, but with conventional tours, you need to open the app when you are at a certain location. The idea of the app I'm suggesting is to give you quick bites of interesting information about the area you are in by tracking your location and sending you notifications when you are near an information point.
In this way, you can be surprised by little known facts about places you visit every day as well as get all the interesting information when you are travelling.
The information can be uploaded by users, or by hired writers. Personally, I think it would work best if the content is generated by users as people tend to have a deeper knowledge of their own areas than researchers ever could.
Information points can be rated using a star system and you'd be able to see where information points are on the app's map, but you won't be able to read the info if you aren't within a certain distance of the point. This could encourage users to go explore certain areas with many information points or perhaps go seek out a lone and isolated point, hoping to find something special.
What could the incentive be for people to write quality information for specific points though?
Would the simple pleasure of sharing knowledge about a specific area be enough to get people to contribute?
I can imagine such an app would quickly run into spam. Business owners would have the incentive to embellish the facts about their area and advertise their places. As the app got more popular they would come up with ever more elaborate ways to draw people their way. In so doing they would reduce the quality of suggestions and thus the incentive for people to use the app in the first place.
All additions and edits should be objectively reviewed
Povilas S14 days ago
Spook Louw14 days ago
Spook Louw14 days ago
Filter the notifications by the category
J
JuranApr 08, 2021
The app you proposed sounds amazing. It's something I would install and enjoy every day, although I live in my city for almost 30 years now. It could make people enjoy and get to know, not only new locations but also their local everyday environment.
What I can add is the categorization of the information. As with every new interesting app, the contents are the jewels of this one, too. While growing, an app could easily reach the phase where it stops being interesting for business people, the elderly, or kids, depending on which type of information is being uploaded the most.
Therefore, it would be very useful to sort the uploaded (and reviewed) information into categories such as historical (modern), historical (ancient), historical (medieval), historical (all), funny, sport, popular, business, fashion, technology, etc. That way, a kid could filter and get the notifications on sports, fashion, or popular, while an elderly couple could get the historical (all) info instead. It would make an app more personalized and consequently, more interesting.
Spook Louw13 days ago
Could we make it a location-based notice board or a social network?
J
JuranApr 08, 2021
What if the amount of the information is uploaded daily and grows into location-based social networks?
Imagine hiking in the mountains just to reach a "note" that your friend, who visited the same peak last week, left for you. It's locked information that can be unlocked only using the "key" that was sent to you. You reach and open it and there is a joke on you with a heart emoji. In two weeks you go to the underground metro toilet and leave the "revenge" message for your friend with hidden location, but navigation information.
That way, the information on discounts, events, and other promotional content could be shared and read by the nearby passengers, too. Information on missing, lost keys or items could be shared this way, even in the middle of nowhere. It could grow big.
Shubhankar Kulkarni13 days ago
Spook Louw13 days ago
Spook Louw13 days ago
Amazing views
Darko SavicApr 08, 2021
A feature in such an app could be to point out exact coordinates where a person should stand and in which direction they should look to see the most amazing views. Optionally add to this the ideal time of the day and period of the year.
People could attach photos to show the view. Each view location would be judged by people from other parts of the world (not natives). The system would try to get fair statistics for each view location so that there could be some kind of a global ranking of top views. You couldn't rate the view if the system doesn't specifically ask you to.
Spook Louw13 days ago
Darko Savic13 days ago
Spook Louw13 days ago
Collector's item
Spook LouwApr 08, 2021
Another element that could be cool would be to log all the points that users have visited. In this way, they can be ranked in tiers based on how many points they have collected.
People love the challenge of collecting something and collecting more points than your friends could give you a bit of bragging rights.
This could also lead to a nice visual addition to the app, where areas on the map are coloured in or marked off when you have collected all the available info points.
Name???
Spook LouwApr 09, 2021
First, I'd like to thank everyone for their brilliant contributions so far.
What would we name such an app?
I was thinking of mixing information and location to get something like "Locaformation" but that sounds horrible.
Then I thought "Experience" might be nice and simple, yet quite descriptive. But I'm sure we can do better.
Like I mentioned in this brainstorming session, I believe names should be catchy and memorable while still remaining intelligent and classy.
Please feel free to suggest anything you think might work.
Darko Savic2 days ago
Shubhankar Kulkarni10 days ago
Shubhankar Kulkarni10 days ago
Content generation
Spook LouwApr 19, 2021
Daami A's comment got me thinking.
Originally, the plan was to pay a couple of writers in the beginning stages of the app to generate content, hoping that it would cause a snowball effect of content being added to the app naturally. I still think this is the way to go and as mentioned in the comments, this could result in people becoming "influencers" and even making money from outside sponsors, similar to what happens on Instagram and TikTok.
But it made me think about two alternative approaches.
1- Anyone can submit an article, if it is approved by the moderators, they will receive payment for it. This could be a great incentive for people to submit their own articles and get the database growing, if the app works on subscription, their payment could then just fall under operating costs.
This could work but I think there might difficulties managing every article that gets posted and this approach could also result in the app losing money if more people are contributing than what can be covered by the subscription fees. Also, I'd like this app to be free, which means our expenses should be kept at a minimum.
2- Anyone can submit articles, or create "lists" or "hunts", these contributions are then rated and once you achieve a certain rating, your contributions can be labelled as premium content which users would then need to buy.
We can structure it so that users buy from the app and we then compensate the writers or so that users can buy from the writers themselves.
This could create a cool aspect of the app where people can buy niche content according to their preference. Imagine someone creating a list like "10 Best Smoking Spots in Cape Town" or "Brooklyn's 10 Best Pizza Places". If the content is good enough I can imagine people buying such a list to add to their experience.
I'm only playing devil's advocate here, I still think the app and its content should be free, but I would like everyone's input on these ideas.