We have just got back from a great few days at the Edinburgh Fringe. 2 years ago we were up there a couple of weeks after I had got my shiny new iPhone and it was not a lot of use apart from the ability to find directions on the maps app, which is actually much much easier to do on a simplified paper map showing all of the fringe venues that you can tear out of the back of the program.
I came away thinking there was a desperate need, as you tried to plan your days and rushed from one side of the city to the other, for an app that told you what was on now and soon near to where you were. Fast forward 2 years and Robert is my uncle.
iFringe is a fantastic application that scoops up all of the reviews from the main review sources and enables you to search by time and location in a simple and intuitive way just click on the “Soon and Nearby” button and that is what you get – no maps just the recommendations in time order with distances from your current location (you can click through to see them on a map if you really need to but within a day you know where most of the venues are so it really isn’t that neccessary). This worked brilliantly on my iPad as well which used wifi location rather than GPS and benefited from a bigger screen to read reviews on.
I don’t think the developers of this app would describe it as a Location Based Service, they just saw location as an essential element in providing a useful application for Fringe visitors. Location is just buried deep into the app.
Ubiquity?