Ask HN: App idea for travellers

[cheekypaolo]

While on holiday last week, I went on a day trip to see Antwerp, Belgium. There was no way we were going to be able to look up and discover all there was to see on our own, so we decided to do the touristy thing and take the one hour tour bus.

As we were driving around, the tour guide was telling us about each sight and providing a little info about each attraction. At some point during the tour, I thought to myself how nice it would be to come back and see all these places my self, while riding around on a bike or walking around. But there was no time to write every thing down. Then I realized it would probably also involve looking up each attraction on the web and plotting my trip on a map and would eventually become this whole to-do. I thought to myself how nice it would be if I have my own little tour guide to guide me around - I just pick the city, arrive and he takes me through it. He tells me where all the nearest tourist attractions are based on my position and provides me with directions and a brief overview of each atraction so I can walk / cycle there and take a look if I want.

That's when it dawned on me, this would probably make a good app. It's kind of like GPS, but more for tourists walking / cycling around. I could just rock up in a city and start browsing attractions based on the suggestions from the app that sounded good to me. It could give me a brief history / overview of the attraction, directions and even a link to the website if I wanted to research further.

So, before I pretend like that I'm the only person to ever think of this, let me ask - are there any apps like this already? Any good ones? Recommendations? As a new but regular traveller, I really hate planning every little stop or checking maps before the time. It would be great to just arrive somewhere and start exploring from there, with some knowledge of what was around me and take things at my own pace with my virtual tour guide (audio preferably so you dont have to have your head buried in your phone the whole time) helping me along the way.

If there isn't anything along these lines, what do you think of the idea? It would mainly be for travellers so I'm not quite sure non-travellers would see the need (I may be wrong). Does this have merit?

[seanpreston]

The closest thing to this I can think of is an offline TripAdvisor app (TripAdvisor City Guides). The app downloads city data straight from TripAdvisor to use on your phone when your internet / wifi is switched off.

Their huge database of places & reviews is combined with a section on 'walking tours' which seems very similar to what you're describing. A great bonus with this is that GPS services still work without internet.

A great addition to this would be bespoke intelligently generated tours based upon your likes or interests.

Also a limitation of the TripAdvisor app is the number of cities offered (though this seems to be increasing)

[jat1]

As a note there are some apps that do this, and one I saw in offered some gaming elements to help you 'discover' the sights and information about them. Looked pretty cool but I don't know if they released it.

[mrkmcknz]

The only problem I could see is that when I personally travel due to ridiculous data costs I turn roaming off and tend to avoid mobile apps unless connected to wifi.

[jat1]

I was looking into an idea similar to this and I started looking at using open street map to generate map data to solve this issue. Open Street map db has tons of info that you don't see on the normal 'maps' so making custom maps was really the way to go. The idea being to download map 'packs' that contain sufficient detail to get to the areas of interest then more detailed maps only for those areas (to avoid having to download huge datasets before you travel and to make it possible to download new ones from wifi points while away)

This idea really interests me and as I am about to embark on long term travel I intend to explore these ideas more.

The audio though, thats another story.

[stewie2]

The problem of implementing an app like this is that you need data. How can you gather those information?

[hoodwink]

tl;dr: acquire data through crowdsourcing, it will create an awesome edge above and beyond making data acquisition easy

The data acquisition could be organic and crowdsourced. For instance, it is possible that some people take pride in their home cities and then would take the time create a "tour" in order to share their unique perspective with outsiders. The motivation for a person to take the time to do this might be as simple as wanting to present's one proud city in the best light. A karma feature would be solid as well. There would still be the "chicken and egg" problem to get content and users, but maybe there is a creative solution for that.

This happens on an ad hoc basis all the time. Take me for an example. I'm a long-time Philadelphia resident. When friends or family (or friends thereof) visit the City of Brotherly Love, I'll often get an email, FB message, or call asking, "What should I do when I'm in Philadelphia?" (Unfortunately, I also get "Pat's or Geno's all too often, too) I'll then take 20 minutes to type a message with my "insider" perspective on how to get the most out of a touristy trip. I could do a write-up for this particular service on Philly in 2 minutes just by searching my gmail and finding my last recommendation email.

The social/crowdsourced data acquisition could have cool implications. - First, it would be an insider perspective and everyone loves to feel like they experienced the "real deal" instead of scratching the surface of various tourist traps. - Second, rather than having one generic tour for each city, there would be a menu of user-created tours to choose from. I know if my mother were visiting Antwerp, she would have a much different agenda than I would. Therefore, the social aspect of this method would enable a user to filter "tours" by the demographic profile of the "tour guide." I'll look for 20-something "tour guides" who posted activities with an active tilt whereas my mom will look for recommendations on art museums and sites with historic value.

Revenue model (long-term) is obvious. Sell advertising. Local businesses can target advertising to a desirable audience: one that is captive and more likely to spend money. Think restaurants, bars, hotels, hostels, rental cars/scooters, entertainment, tourist attractions. With this app, there will be great info on where the tourist plans to go so the advertising will have exceptional value. Obviously the service can't cheapen the value of the "insider info" by drowning a user in ads, but thoughtfully placed ads would probably be tolerable (and effective).

I like this idea. I would use it all the time, personally. Let me know if you end up pursuing it and want some help!

[saiko-chriskun]

sounds like it would be pretty darn awesome to me :). and I haven't even gotten the chance to go travelling yet, hehe.

but I really do want to. if you end up pursuing this and need some extra dev help, lemme know ;)

[Nikkki]

Yes, I know of a similar app. I think the name is "storytelling".

[AznHisoka]

How would you promote your app to travelers?