Location-specific
information in the palm of your hand is the future of travelling: where to eat,
where to find the best cinema, hotel or bar, and even where to buy the best
shoes are all questions that may pop into your head when somewhere new. At
present, though, finding the answers could take time, and several different
apps.
Pinpoint your location… and get the low
down
The Men (And Women) from Uncle
This is where
LocalUncle steps up. Based around a simple concept, when entering a new city
you simply ask the app a question and LocalUncle will identify other users in
the same location as you (or, at least, in the vicinity) and ask them for an
answer. For example, if you’re on Oxford Street wonder where the nearest
electrical retailer is, the result LocalUncle will come up with will be
directly from another user, who will hopefully inform you of the best
electrical retailer in the area, as well as where to find it.
Based around a simple concept, when
entering a new city you simply ask the app a question and LocalUncle will
identify other users in the same location as you (or, at least, in the
vicinity) and ask them for an answer.
Then, while you’re
wandering around the city, the app will auto-update your location and any
further questions asked will be sent to a user who has actually been to the
specific location previously.
Geo-fencing
LocalUncle uses a
built in geo-fencing technology that maps the user’s locations, and builds an
anonymous location history profile. This allows the app the properly push the
relevant questions and answers to the relevant locations as per the user’s GPS
function. For example, asking for the best café in Norwich shouldn’t return an
answer for New York. This keeps the relationship between the user, the app and
the other users private, but also suitable for the locale.
LocalUncle uses a built in geo-fencing
technology that maps the user’s locations, and builds an anonymous location
history profile
It’s worth pointing
out that no one who uses the app will know where or who you are- unless you
tell them, of course. So the only things shown on the map are the place names
and the number of LocalUncle users there is (or have been) at these locations.
Obviously data privacy is paramount for an app of this kind, and LocalUncle has
apparently gone to great lengths to assure its users of their privacy, and to
make sure that the data used is as anonymous as possible.
Bum Answers
Of course, as with any
crowd-sourced system, there’s always the possibility that some clever so-and-so
may come back with an unwarranted answer. Unfortunately, there’s little anyone
can do about that, but LocalUncle’s philosophy is one to be admired; building
such an app requires a genuine belief (or, we suppose, a desperate hope) that
people are fundamentally good, and that people like to help others when they
need help. This is something we rather like about LocalUncle, and although
there may very well be an ‘oik’ or two present, they’ll soon get bored and move
on.
LocalUncle’s philosophy is one to be
admired; building such an app requires a genuine belief that people are
fundamentally good, and that people like to help others when they need help.
Conclusion
LocalUncle has the
potential to be the travel app to have. There’s still plenty of room to man
oeuvre in the market, and the app has a lot of potential for further
improvement to its service. What’s more, LocalUncle is free; it’s built on the
Foursquare API and has proved remarkably stable, so why not drop by the Apple
store and give it a try. Don’t forget to help others out, though!
Feature At a glance
·
Free
·
Hyper-local
search and discovery app
·
Ask
questions, and get answers back from users who know
·
Anonymous
and private data usage
