Before I left for Disney, I considered Gowalla and Foursquare to be about the same. They both let you “check in” at various places (restaurants, stores, etc) and both have a bit of a game aspect to them. Foursquare is based on cities and addresses, while Gowalla is based entirely on GPS. While I’m in Atlanta, those work out about the same. When I get away from the city, things change quickly.
Foursquare dies between cities: On our way to Orlando, we passed through a lot of smaller towns. In some of those towns we stopped for meals, gas, etc. On Foursquare, I couldn’t check in. It’s based so heavily on specific cities that you’re simply out of luck when you’re between them. With Gowalla, I simply added the new location and checked in.
Foursquare makes it too hard to add new items: If you happen to be near a big city, but your particular destination isn’t in their system, it’s a pain to load it. You need to find the full street address to be able to add it. In my case, I’d fire up Google Maps on the iPhone, search for the location, memorize the address, open up Foursquare, add the location. With Gowalla, I simply type the name of the location, choose a category and I’m done! It saves the location based on GPS, so there’s no need for the address.
Foursquare is useless inside of Disney World: I thought it’d be neat to “check in” when we visited various attractions inside Disney World. With Foursquare, it was tough to find the one you were at because it listed everything based on street address. Not good. With Gowalla, it showed the attractions nearest your current location, which was perfect! I didn’t check in on all of them (too busy playing with the kids), but I got a lot of them. It worked very well inside the park.
That’s pretty much it. The comparison wasn’t even close — Gowalla is better in almost every way. The one drawback it has right now is momentum. Foursquare is getting all of the press, and therefore is getting all of the users. In the end, if Facebook or Twitter doesn’t steal it first, Gowalla has a decent shot of becoming the geo app of choice.
Either way, it’ll be a fun fight to watch.
Hey MickMel, thanks for sharing your thoughts.. agree with you 100% which is why all three of these issues are fixed in our next build. We just getting warmed up 🙂
– @dens, foursquare
That certainly sounds encouraging. I’m thinking it will be difficult to fix some of them, but if you’ve got a plan in mind — great! How long until we see this new build? Days or months?
For now, I’m still doing dual check-ins most of the time. For places already in the databases, it’s pretty easy.
Looking forward to seeing the new release…
I personally don’t get Foursquare. In every way Gowalla seems to be superior. Really, Foursquare never made me *want* to found a new place, or go visit a place to see what other people left there to find. Maybe I just like games and pretty pictures, but the technology and creativity behind Gowalla just makes it far, FAR more appealing.
Recently interviewed Josh at Gowalla. Shameless link to that article for anyone interested in learning more about Gowalla and some of the other stuff they have been doing.
http://www.facebookmarketingreview.com/interviews/josh-williams-ceo-and-founder-of-alamofire
Agree 100% with your article though, nice write up.
Best,
William
I’m almost always in a Foursquare-supported city, so I’ve been doing dual checkins as well. There is an issue with creating spots in Gowalla in that the GPS tends to be off, so I have to log into the website later on and fix the pin location– which can be tedious, but I’m grateful for the ability to post-edit. Foursquare allows for post-spot-creation editing as well, but, as you mentioned, right now you can only edit based on a specific address. Kind of an issue when I was trying to “fix” the location of the World’s Tallest Thermometer in Baker, CA (which I think I accidentally created for Las Vegas; I keep forgetting that 4S is only in certain cities and was surprised again today when we were driving through the desert and Gowalla spots showed up, but 4S was empty).
I like playing with both (Gowalla is more visually appealing and I love the Items-related games, but I have a *lot* more friends on 4S right now), but I find I use 4S for all and any location check-ins, whereas I’m pickier with where I check in on Gowalla. I’m getting more lenient with this term’s definition as I get more and more involved with Items, but for the most part, I try to only check in on Gowalla when I’m somewhere “special”.
Gowalla all the way. GPS might be a bit off, but it is easy to fix, and you can also ‘nudge’ it while creating the spot. It’s just a better experience overall.
Hi MickMel,
Really good article and explained a lot to me about the differences between the two services (as I can’t currently try them out). I will be including a link to your blog from mine later today… hope you don’t mind.
Take care,
Sam
I’d really like to test out Gowalla, but the kicker for me right now is phone choice. I can’t use Gowalla with a blackberry. I’ll test out both if/when I can though… I like the app and it has a lot of possibility…
As a foursquare & Gowalla user in Seoul, South Korea, I find Gowalla so much more convenient, where I don’t have to input the address, the only thing I wish Gowalla had was the “TIPS” that’s one thing I Like about 4square over Gowalla, because I like to input what one should order or avoid or what’s nearby, great write up