Maptales is a location-based “social broadcasting and exploring” mobile app designed to help users capture, edit and share their lives and experiences.
Launched at our GeeknRolla event on Tuesday by co-founder Philipp Wassibauer, the free iPhone app is due by the end of Q2 while BlackBerry and Android versions are due in Q3. The app organises users’ daily events into “Xperience Feeds”, which include geo-tagged pictures, videos, stories, trips or posts of a real life experiences such as city trips or sport & leisure activities. Interestingly, the app integrates with a host of other social/location services such as Facebook Connect, Foursquare and Gowalla.
Users can explore places using augmented reality facilities: Wassibauer showed a demo of the app, with the iPhone camera pointed at Piccadilly Circus, with various tips, annotations and recommendations dotted around the streets. Users can also follow paths and see comments other people have left using Maptales.
The founders say the app is squarely aimed at “travel-focused urbanites and outdoors enthusiasts”. But what’s the business model? Primarly local advertising revenue generated via geo-tagged vouchers people can use in the real world and mobile ads. Destination marketing and microtransacrions.