People are getting more and more comfortable broadcasting their location to the rest of the world. Many online services are launching location based services and 2010 will feature many of them.
Facebook recently updated their privacy policy to make space for location based services. Google and Microsoft are continuing their work with location based features with their maps and their mobile OS and phones. Twitter just announced their acquisition for Mixer Labs, a service that helps developers build location-aware applications.
You can attribute most of that to the fast explosion of GPS enabled mobile devices and the iPhone is on top of that list. Just browsing through the iPhone app store, you will find hundreds of location-based apps.
Flook is a new location browser and “the world’s first serendipitous discovery engine” as it is described by its developers. Unlike many other location-based apps, Flook comes with a playful approach to location browsing.
Basically the app lets you swipe through nearby cards created by users close to your location, closest ones will be displayed first. Since this is a new app and depending on your location, you might not find a lot of cards around you. The closest one I found was more than 80 miles away.
Cards have a full screen photo and some text and they are geo-tagged. Click on the information icon, and the card will flip and you will be presented with a map. You can follow card creators, email a card, or get direction with Google Maps.
Creating a card is very simple, simply take a photo, and write a description and your card will be flooked. Your card will automatically be geo-located and attached to the place where you made it.
If you have a Twitter account, Flook will automatically add your new geotagged card to Twitter.
Users can also rate and collect cards and follow other users. Flook keeps score of the most collected cards and overtime it learns which cards people like most, and then shows them to you first.
In addition to user-generated cards, Flook is creating its own cards until the app reaches critical mass.
Flook doesn’t offer a search or browse function based on your interest which I consider a drawback. Say you want to find music festival around your area, best swimming pool, gyms, etc. There doesn’t seem to be an easy way to do that.
Flook is interesting and fun to play with. It is free and worth a try. It needs more users, and a better way to find cards based on my interest. The application runs on iPhone OS 3.0 and higher.
Tariq Ali is an avid follower of the search engine and Internet marketing industry for the past 10 years. When he is not working or playing with tech gadgets, you will find him swimming, biking or running.
Read other articles by Tariq Ali
Tags: Facebook, flook, geo-location, Google, iPhone Search Apps, location based services, location search apps, Microsoft
Tariq,
Thanks for the posting – glad you like flook. As you know, this is just v1. We’re looking at filtering in the near future; this first version is optimised for a world before there are millions of flookers. Future versions will work well in that world :-)
r
I have used Flook for a while now and love it.