Trip Sharing Platform
Background
Everyone travels in some way- whether it’s traveling to work, national parks, or far off lands. Yet there isn’t a great way to save your destinations, view more destinations, and share lists of destinations. One use case of this is when you travel to a new city- Wouldn’t it be great if you could see a list of destination spots compiled by previous visitors? There are some similar apps out there like google maps that saves your places, or yelp that has customer reviews on local spots… But there isn’t a great list of this that is aesthetically pleasing. To be accessible this platform should be on the web and also mobily accessible. The goal would be to provide the service of shared travel lists.
Executive Summary
Creating a social travel network is crucial for solving this problem. This app would involve integrating with current social media to connect these lists to family and friends. For location saving, google maps or a similar source may be something we could leverage. This application should be able to beautifully display lists of travel destinations categorized in a variety of ways – type, location, trip, etc. This trip list could also serve as a travel itinerary. The lists can be shared, public, private, editable by one person, or perhaps many. Every person will have a travel line list that is basically an uncategorized history of all their destinations, all of their check-ins. To do this it is important that the app is accessible on the go. Also having locals compile public lists of all the must-visit spots in the area.
Viability Analysis
The biggest challenge in this app is going to be organization. There are similar apps out there that attempt some of the proposed functionality, but the user interface is complicated, unorganized, renders many features useless. Much of development will need to be spent finding the best organization to categorize locations, present the data, and lower overhead for users. Another issue is that this app needs users as much as the users need the app. If the locations are all created by users, the app starts with zero locations. It may be beneficial to internally create a base list of locations in order to overcome this challenge.
Risks and Rewards
One issue that may arise is moderation. If we have a list representing a city that anyone of the city can add to, there may be some ill fitting locations added that are private residences, fake places, etc. Some moderation may be required, if not this is a risk that could possibly result in legal problems. Rewards include empowering locals to show the world the best things to do in their city, a revolutionary app that lets users have a destination wish list that they can progress through, and a user accountable travel industry.
Closing
In summary this project will bring travelers and locals together via destinations. Instead of visiting somewhere because “it’s the touristy thing to do” users visit because the people who have experienced it day to day recommended it. If you feel like visiting all the national parks, you have a digestible list of them to choose from and tick off the ones you’ve visited. This project will majorly disrupt the tourist industry and create a network of travelers.
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