Gowalla, wherefour(square) art thou?

Lots of buzz lately about Gowalla vs foursquare so I signed up and downloaded the apps. But wait, I have a BB Storm and Gowalla’s BB app (beta) doesn’t work on the Storm. Seriously? How is that possible?

So far, my emails to customer service and shout outs on Twitter have gone unanswered – that’s disappointing. I’m particularly interested in the trips feature after seeing the one  Sheila Scarborough created for Round Rock, TX. On the website it looks promising as a new dimension to tourism, guess I’ll have to wait a while longer to test drive it.

I was more successful with foursquare – sort of. Foursquare is just emerging out here in Montana. There aren’t many places to check-in yet, which is fine since the positioning signals aren’t quite accurate. For example, I was at Carroll College and the places that showed up for check-in were more than a mile away. I did a search and the college came up but foursquare told me I was “too far away to check in”. Really?

This was pretty common throughout town. As long as I was at least several blocks away from a venue I could usually check in, but if I was actually at a place,  I was “too far away” and couldn’t check in.  So far, this experiment was not encouraging. A train trip from Montana to upstate New York gave me another opportunity to test foursquare (still no Gowalla version for my BB).

Near Chicago’s Union Station, I had dozens of choices. Outside the Willis Tower (will always be Sears to me), check in. At Kinko’s, check-in. Dinner at Potbelly’s, check-in. Union Station, check-in. Baggage claim, check-in. On a train waiting to leave, check-in. Union Station escalator – that’s an option? Why would anyone be checking in that they’re on the escalator?

Ding, I just received a Crunked badge. Is that good? Do I get free stuff?

Two days later I checked in at places around Canandaigua, NY – the lake, Kershaw Park, Muar House Cafe, Wegmans, Simply Crepes. I know I checked in at the Fingers Lakes Visitors Center (and I left a tip about the awesome staff) but for some reason it doesn’t show up in my history and my tip doesn’t appear. Another glitch I guess.

On the way home we looked for restaurants near Union Station for breakfast.  I vaguely remembered eating at Lou Mitchell’s years ago when I worked at the Art Institute but I couldn’t find it. Checked on foursquare and there it was – kudos and all. There were even comments reminding us about the fact that they only take cash – excellent information to have. Finally,  a practical use for foursquare!

Even after becoming Mayor of the Glasgow (MT) Amtrak station for my pair of check-ins (no discounts or free travel offered by the way), I’m not convinced foursquare has value as a tourism tool. Yes, it helps promote loyalty to a particular business and collecting badges adds to the game-like environment, but it seems more appropriate for local residents. My questions are: Do people really want to use an app that lets others know where they are all the time and isn’t it a bit narcissistic to think that anyone really cares?

As a tourism app, I see Gowalla Trips to be more promising. People visit stops along the way and entries are annotated with interesting tidbits. Comments and photos can be added and others can even respond to any comments. In many cases, tours highlight places most tourists miss. Personally, this is how I prefer to experience a city  and its sense of place.

If you’re a creature of habit and want free stuff or discounts, foursquare is probably your app of choice. If you want to actually be a traveler who experiences a place – instead of a tourist who hits the high spots or only goes where eveyone else does (repeatedly) – then Gowalla is probably a better app . Although I’m still waiting to actually try it for myself – Hey Gowalla, ARE YOU LISTENING?