Q. What is Gowalla?
A. Gowalla is, plain and simple, a free virtual geocaching app for the iPhone. Currently there is no Blackberry or Android app for it. If you have an Android device, you can use http://m.gowalla.com in your web browser to play. Gowalla says apps for Blackberry & Android phones are months down the road. It is a shame that it can’t be sooner.
Q. Why should I drop items at spots?
A. When you drop an item, you become one of the ‘founders’ of the spot. Each spot can hold 10 items and can have 10 founders. This allows Gowalla to determine what spots get higher traffic. If a spot gets a lot of traffic it can become a featured spot. Dropping items will also eventually get you new pins.
Q. What’s a pin?
A. A pin is received hen you accomplish certain tasks like, creating a certain number of spots, becoming a founder of a certain number of spots, checking into a certain number of spots, visiting a specific number of specific types of spots. You can also get pins for completing trips. You can see what pins are available here.
Q. What’s a trip?
A. A trip is a collection of spots that have been grouped together by Gowalla. You need to check into each spot on the trip to complete it. You can see the list of current trips from Gowalla’s web site.
Q. How do I know if I “need” items for my vault?
A. Right now, you can either (1) check Gowalla’s web site to see if you need an item or (2) add a link on one of your iPhone’s home screens to http://iphone.gowallatools.com in Mobile Safari on your iPhone (click the + at the bottom to add a bookmark and click “Add to Home Screen” button) and use that to check what items you need in your vault when you’re on the go. (More info on Gowalla Tools can be found at http://gowallatools.com.)
Q. Why do I need to vault items?
A. As you find items you can store them in your vault. Each item is numbered so you can try to find the lowest number of each item, as many items as you can, collect unique items (so just one of each) or you can vault as many as you can. It’s just an element of fun added into Gowalla.
Q. Can I remove items from my vault?
A. At this time, no you can not. WARNING: Once you vault an item (even duplicates), there is no way to remove it. Gowalla has no plans at this time of adding this function.
Why should I swap items? Is there a method/strategy to the swapping?
A. When you check into a spot, you might run across an item that you do not have in your vault sitting in the group of items for that spot (each spot can hold 10 items). If you have an item in your pack (also limited to 10 items) you can swap one item from your pack with an item at that spot you are currently checked into. You gain a new item and hopefully someone that will check into that spot in the future will find an items that they need too.
Q. Why is finding friends so hard?
A. That’s a good question. I have a low number of friends on Gowalla. Feel free to add me as a friend on there.
Q. There are no spots in my area. Why should I use Gowalla?
A. Someone has to be the first. Download the app and start creating spots. If you use Twitter or Facebook, you can have Gowalla update your status on either or both sites to attract more people in your area to start using it.
Q. How do I get more items?
A. You have to check into spots, even ones you’ve checked into before. This is part of the gameplay of Gowalla. So get going.
Q. Someone created a spot and the name is wrong, in the wrong location, or it’s a duplicate. What do I do?
A. Go to http://getsatisfaction.com/gowalla and create a new post. Copy the URL for the spot (from Gowalla’s web site), paste it into your post saying what is wrong with it and the correct info. If the location is wrong, you can use Google Maps to find the correct location. You can also contact the Gowalla Street Team Elite on Twitter or here. Also make sure that you clearly state what you want done. I just had a request that got all fouled up by Gowalla staff and a spot I created 250 miles away got deleted, when it shouldn’t have.
Q. What if a spot that I created is not in the correct location?
A. Log into Gowalla’s web site, go to the Passport tab, click on the item, and under the map there is the Edit button. Click on that and reposition the spot. You can also fix the name, category, and check-in radius. When you’re finished, click the Save button. The position may not update right away, so you may have to give it some time.
Q. Do you work for Gowalla?
A. No I do not work for Gowalla/Alamofire. Nor have I been paid or bribed by them (but I won’t refuse if offered). I am just a big fan of theirs and love Gowalla.
Do you have any other questions about Gowalla? Feel free to ask me either by leaving a comment here or sending me a @reply on Twitter. Maybe I’ll add your question to this post.
Updated on 01/21/2010
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