Ask how a earpiece can help you discover a young place , and most of us think of the vagabond Googling or Yelping we do when desperately try out to find somewhere to corrode . But I wanted to find apps that served like treasure maps , repoint me toward the hidden gems tucked away in a metropolis — if only I cognise which way to walk . Could an app help me discover a new memory board in my own neck of the woods ? Could it aid me rule an amazing building within a naut mi from my hotel way ?
I attain the streets arm with several new apps designed for urban dangerous undertaking , as well as a few old classics that have recently been updated . I try them out in my own Los Angeles neighborhood , and tested them on trips to Palm Springs , California , and Boulder , Colorado . Here ’s what I discovered along the way .
KAMINO
Kamino(iOS ; destitute ) , an urban hiking app that debuted earlier this year , say it ’s all about user - generate walking tours which can assist citizenry enhance their human relationship with a metropolis . Seemed right up my alley . After registering , with a few tap I could find plenty of tramp in my neighborhood ( many of them focus on around imbibing , +1 ) , and once I take the road I wanted , the app pay me directions to the start of the walk , as well as aloofness and time it would take to walk it .
As I would amount to learn , an urban risky venture app is only as good as the content people have created for it . For a new app , Kamino had a dainty diverseness of hikes to choose from in LA , but was less robust ( although not barren ) in a place like Boulder . I also liked how it encouraged you to do the walk in order , the way the God Almighty had intended , and gave detailed turn - by - turn directions . While I did n’t of necessity discover any Modern places I did n’t already know on the hike I demoed , I take account the fashion each walk was curated .
After taking a hike in my neighbourhood , I tried to make my own hike highlight various oddities in my neighborhood ( likethis sign ) . But after taste several times on multiple days , I could n’t manage to create my own . I could make the name of the hike , but when it come to adding locating , it did n’t let me input random addresses , encouraging me to tote up nearby , well - known landmarks instead . Maybe the locations have to be somehow already get in into their arrangement ? I was also ineffective to delete my hike once it was created , so it continue blank . I proceed to the web site to see if I could redact my hike from there , and it did n’t even show up .
MOSEY
After my experience with Kamino , I was particularly great to tryMosey , another new inauguration that claim it can “ connect you with the good billet in any city . ” Their app also debuted earlier this year ( iOS ; free ) and has a plethora of adventures found near me . Instead of assume prescribed walk , like Kamino , Mosey allows exploiter to choose location around a theme , then generates a inclination and function . I was able to key out a few Moseys ( that ’s what they call them ) near me in every place I went to , but the app is so beautiful I also found myself perusing adventures in Amsterdam and Portland .
Mosey ’s pattern was heads and shoulder above Kamino when it come to both looks and interaction . It was supremely easy for me to create my Mosey ofdowntown LA public transportation innovations(plus ice cream ) and I was able to map out each locating beautifully on both the app and the website . While Mosey will pull out up suggested locations with a few key stroke , it also did n’t have any trouble produce brand - new location with just a name and reference . I was also able to “ lay aside ” situation when I was out and about to my account , which I could organize into Moseys later . It was actually by browsing a list of other masses ’s “ place ” that I found an splendid eating house in Boulder for lunch .
While Mosey had obviously partner with some bloggers and local group ( including an event I ’d organized where they help as a partner ) , there did n’t seem to be a groundswell yet of Moseys create by my fellow Angelenos . Overall , they need more users to make the website more dynamic and relevant .
JAUNTFUL
Another recent entry to the urban center templet arena isJauntful , a blade - unexampled web site that recently come out of genus Beta . While Jauntful does n’t have an app ( yet ) , it does have one very important feature article : The guide are designed to be formatted for mark , meaning you could make your guide and then hand it to someone as a well - contrive map . In addition to user - generated guide , Jauntful also has guides created by partners like Saveur and the Andaz hotel strand , which adds some saucy and very well - produced content .
With its crisp design and nice formatting whether or not you want to print out its urban center guides , I enjoy the Jauntful experience . I create alocal ’s template to Hollywood , where I lived for eight years , and the Foursquare - backed engine made adding locations a gentle wind . Even without an app , it ’s really very promiscuous to use the site on your telephone set if you call for to . I was able to delete locations and data and browse other guides easy on the go . The guides are really good , too ; I found a raw Korean BBQ spot to try in LA and learned there was a pool in a nearby Mungo Park that I never knew was there .
While Jauntful does organize its guides by metropolis , it was n’t easy to chance upon places nearby . I ’d like an option to find template or position near me that could start the geographic expedition process without have to go through the actual guides themselves . What I wanted to see was all the local Jauntful locations posted on a master map , for instance , providing the ultimate level of find . Plus it ’s obvious Jauntful has focalize its efforts ( so far ) on sure cities , so there were simply no guides or location for Boulder or Palm Springs .
FIELD TRIP
Field Trip is a Google - created app free earlier this year ( iOS , Android ; free — plus you may also use onGoogle Glass ) which pull in geotagged content from dozens and dozens of sites like Atlas Obscura , Architizer , Thrillist , Cool Hunting , and Eater , across a cooking stove of categories , like architecture , historic places , and “ cool & singular . ” But here ’s the really cool part . Field Trip does the one thing that I really wanted all of these other apps to do : It advise me when I ’m close to a site of interestingness . So even when I ’m not really look for something to see , it alerts me to something notable nearby .
Field Trip has so much content it ’s impossible to get bored or complacent . I enjoyed father piffling nudges ( which can be customized ) while out and about , encouraging me to depend around . I really loved the architecture and diachronic overlays , which function best in dumb urban environment ( much more to see in LA than Boulder and Palm Springs ) . With Google Glass , I could see how this could be particularly fun . And potentially annoying to those around me .
Since Field Trip does syndicate locations from so many sites , the message itself can be uneven . In my neighborhood , the picks were mostly food , with up to 10 good word for the same Thai restaurant down the street . The formatting was mess up up for several entries , with clustered type . While I lack some of the curatorial expression of the other apps , it could still be found moderately by dipping into the site themselves ; I was able-bodied to discover a list of local recommendation by a chef posted to taste Table , for example , that had large proposition .
But the boastful trouble with Field Trip is that it ’s so location - focused that you actually ca n’t shop other places . I was only capable to search other city by physically locating the map to another part of the world . And , of row , I was n’t capable to create my own guide ( unless I became one of the situation that shared substance ) .
INGRESS
While you may not think of Google ’s ridiculously pop multiplayer game as an urban geographic expedition tool per se , Ingress(iOS , Android ; costless ) is plausibly one of the dear ways to get out and search any piazza on the planet on pes . This fully immersive experience directs you to “ portals ” ( usually mural , parkland , or statue ) which you must be physically near to in social club to unlock and earn tip .
Earlier this year , Google announced that anyone can create their own “ missions , ” a feature which is useable for Android now and will be on iOS soon . These are like mini - scavenger hunts that postulate players to jaw a prescribed lean of locating , starting at a designated portal ( the locations are appropriately powered by Field Trip ) .
With Google ’s reach it ’s no surprisal that the globose coverage is so good that you will probably never feel yourself in a post where there are n’t mass of portal to visit . Once I realized this , no matter where I was , I ’d pull out my phone and force out up the app just to see what I might be capable to discover nearby . Ingress took me down hidden alleyways and up random streets , indicate me various ocular quirk of the city around me . It also helped me see conversant places in a new Christ Within — there ’s a portal site in a Mungo Park down the street and when I walk there now , I question who else might know its mystery . Basically : Ingress is freaking addictive . And really fun .
At first , I found the game itself overly complicated — I’m not even sure I understand most of the story or objective — but in hindsight it does n’t really count . Ingress acquire you out into any city in a way you ’ve never know it before . Of naturally , Ingress is not get to point me towards a spicy fresh barroom , like many of these other apps . But it might take me to a weird statue in a part of Ithiel Town I ’d never consider jaw for its night life merits . That ’s a whole other level of urban exploration , I think . And one that most of us do n’t engage in nearly enough .
AdventuresCitiesTravelurbanism
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