Restaurant Multi Purpose Mobile App
Another user generated review site has emerged it is call GraffitiGeo. This site is a combination of Yelp + Digg + Foursquare. The mobile application is somewhat of a mashup review site Yelp, mobile social network Foursquare, and social news site Digg.
The Digg-like element of the application is the easiest piece to use, like that restaurant? Vote it up. You can also leave more detailed comments to go along with your vote, if you choose. To encourage people to participate in the “game” aspect of the app, GraffitiGeo also introduces a point system whose concept is borrowed from mobile app Foursquare.
One thing that differentiate GraffitiGeo is its nifty heatmaps to highlight the hotspots, and let you leave a comment with only 2 taps (Yelp takes 5-6). In short, they feel they’ve designed an application specifically for the mobile platform where Yelp just ported their successful website to mobile instead.
Another element to GraffitiGeo is the game aspect. This may or may not be a plus. With inspiration obviously borrowed from mobile social network/game Foursquare, GraffitiGeo awards points for any activity, whether that’s a vote, a comment, or anything. After reaching 100 points (aka “street cred”), you can start or join a “mob.” Mobs can claim territories which, in turn, unlocks more features in the application.
If you’re trying to find out if a restaurant is worth trying out, you’re probably more interested in reading reviews and checking ratings than you are in playing with a bunch of online friends.
Another application that GraffitiGeo is coming out is with augmented reality. They will blend the gps, digg like voting, heatmaps, along with layers of augmented reality technology to show all this info by just pointing your camera phone at the establishment. Or, by typing the info on a restaurant. To go beyond this, the app may show the restaurant design (layout of the place).
