SpotWorld combines the best of several travel, social media sites
The press release I received from SpotWorld sums up its newly released, free universal app adquately: It's a social travel app where Lonely Planet meets Yelp meets Gowalla. The app, which makes its official debut today, takes its cues from having studied apps that Apple features in its prime locations on the App Store and does its best to emulate them.
SpotWorld is a well-designed, easy-to-use travel app. Launching it lists interesting travel spots near you, featured destinations, and it allows you to create and share your travel itinerary. Interaction with the SpotWorld community can be done via Facebook or creating a SpotWorld account. Once you've got an account, you're able to check into locations and indicate if you've already visited with a separate "been there" feature. The "been there" feature is neat as it marks the locations you've visited on a map. Unfortunately, the check-in feature was not working at the time of this review. UPDATE: Joseph Chong, CEO of SpotWorld, said the check-in feature does not work unless you're within three miles of a location. The been-there feature works anywhere. Thanks, Joseph!
Each spot has a brief description (that can be narrated by an automated voice), the street address, a map and distance from your current location, and other spots near the location. It's great for exploring a new city or embarking on a spur-of-the-moment excursion. Like other similar apps, SpotWorld lets you contribute to its database of tips, photos and ratings.
I wish I'd had SpotWorld on a recent trip to New York City. It would have come in handy. It's worth adding to your arsenal of iPhone travel apps. Have fun, and get out there!
