Immediate.ly Maps Real-Time Restaurant Availability

Are you ever hungry and wonder which nearby restaurants have available tables right now? Immediate.ly, conceived at TechCrunch’s Disrupt London Hackathon, aims to fix that problem.

London-based developer Dan Cohen and Oxford student Chaiyakorn Srisakvarakul put together a tool, using the Esri API, that shows restaurant openings on a map.

“It’s a real-time map updating on availabilities throughout the city so they can plan their life efficiently,” Srisakvarakul told TechCrunch.

They said that the live updates will be provided by the table management software that they plan to make with the Clover API.

The duo have thought about a business plan, saying that they expect to offer the software for free and generate revenue from advertising.

“We are solving both sides of the market,” said Cohen, referring to both consumers and restaurants. “One side wants the restaurant management software and the other wants to manage their time efficiently.”

They also expect that their tool could be used for other applications beyond the food industry. Gyms, nightclubs or healthcare could also benefit from Immediate.ly, explains Srisakvarakul. “Restaurant availability is only the start. What we are planning to do is increase efficiency of the whole economy globally.”

The team won a prize of $2,500 from Esri for the best use of their API.