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I’m willing to do a swap for some needed Gowalla items. We can set up a swap somewhere in the northern Delaware area. Get hold of me on Twitter or leave me a comment here. First come, first serve. If you don’t have anything I need, that’s cool. I can still drop an item for you to pick up.
Here’s what I need:
Designing with Web Standards
Crush It! Book
Roadrunner
Longhorn Skull
Longhorn
Fieldnotes Pin
Big Belt Buckle
Airbag Industries Pin
Two-Headed Serpent
Roughly 2 hours ago Gowalla tweeted the following:
I was able to go out and check to see if this was finally true. And YES IT IS! I scored several items and 2 of the new bonus items from last week (2-piece Luggage and Gowalla Cling).
Now I’d love to hear, by a blog post or a post in the support forum on GetSatisfaction.com, of what happened. I think most of us Gowalla users are technical enough to understand.
UPDATE 03/14/2010: Due to the large amount of posts to the item drought thread, earlier posts have been deleted. Anyone suffering from the same issue should click on the “I’m having this problem too” link and post a comment.
It’s been almost 2 weeks now since a Gowalla user posted about an issue on their support site at GetSatisfaction.com about the lack of bonus items dropping when checking into spots. Since that first post, Gowalla marked it as “Not a problem” yet more and more people are adding replies to the post about having the exact same issue, including me. The issue has quickly been labeled as the “Item Drought”.
I stumbled upon Gowalla back in the late summer/early fall of 2009 and quickly got addicted to it. I used it all the time, creating new spots in my spotless area and got others to start using the app. I was in love with Gowalla. I loved the fact that it had items to find and collect and I got addicted to finding the new bonus items. Then all of the sudden no bonus items were appearing.
Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday, Josh Williams of Gowalla posted about 2 new features in Gowalla: Trips and Bookmarks.
Custom trips have been talked about by many on Gowalla’s GetSatifaction.com forum and now they’re available, but their creation is only available from the web site. You can access near by trips from the app so you can do them. You can create as many as 5 trips, each including up to 20 spots. Not bad. More improvements to that will be coming also in the future. You can also create bookmarks now for your favorite spots, from the web site and from the app.
Here’s the blog post:
Today we’re thrilled to announce the launch of two new features: Trips and Bookmarks. Let’s talk about Trips first.
Until today, all Trips in Gowalla have been curated by the team at Gowalla with a little help from select friends. But our goal has always been that you would help us create these trips. And today you can. Simply login to your Gowalla account on the web, visit a spot page, then click the Add to Trip button. You’ll be able to name your trip, give it a description, add up to 20 spots of your choosing, then publish it to Gowalla. Your published trips will be viewable in the Gowalla app by your friends.
Here’s where it gets fun: We’ll be looking for unique and exciting trips created by our community to feature in Gowalla. Featured trips will be promoted based on the quality and relevancy of the trip, the number of people who have completed the trip, and will be given their own custom pin artwork that will be rewarded to those who have completed the trip.
As of today, you can create as many as 5 trips, each including up to 20 spots. As we improve the feature we’ll allow you to create more trips, order their lists of spots, and categorize them into logical groups like Pub Crawls, Nature Hikes, and the like. Also, for now, you may only complete featured trips and trips created by your friends. This is just the first step in making trips a truly key part of Gowalla’s future. We have lots more to do.
Today you can view nearby, featured and friend-created trips in Gowalla 1.4 on your iPhone by tapping the Browse button in the upper-left of the Trips tab. Our forthcoming Android and WebOS clients currently in development will also support this feature.
I’d also like to tell you a bit about bookmarks as well. Now when you visit any spot page at Gowalla.com you can bookmark that spot. You’ll be able to find all your bookmarks in Gowalla for iPhone by tapping Browse on the Spots tab. This simple feature makes it easy to find your way back to a favorite spot. Soon you’ll be able to add bookmarks from your mobile device as well.
Today’s release of Trips and Bookmarks to our community is simply a first step. There is a lot of depth here to be explored. We’re excited to hear your feedback as we continue to improve these, and other, features. Thanks for going out with Gowalla!
Josh Williams from Gowalla posted a new blog post yesterday. Coming soon is Gowalla’s API to developers and already in place is a new privacy policy.
The new privacy policy will allow you to hide your passport from all Gowalla users, if you so desire. By default, Passport Privacy is off. This allows others to view the stamps in your passport and the items you have collected, which include a history of the day and location where you picked up the item. If you choose to turn Passport Privacy on, your stamps (the places you’ve been) and your items will only be visible to your friends.
To find this, log into the Gowalla web site, click Settings, and then Privacy.
I’m a big time fan of Gowalla, as you can tell from some of my posts. Today, Gowalla announced that they’ve partnered with case maker Incase.
If you check into any Apple Store, you have a chance to pick up to 6 new virtual Incase items! I was at my local Apple Store today before I knew about this news. I didn’t get anything. This first week, some people will have the chance to score a real Incase Slider case if they also find the virtual Incase Slide. A fine prize indeed! If you collect all 6 virtual Incase items, you’ll receive the Incase Pin of Glory!
UPDATE 01/06/2009: I scored a virtual Incase Slider today after work! Now I guess I’m waiting for an email from Gowalla, just like with the Golden Gifts they did for Christmas.
UPDATE 01/07/2009: Found another virtual Incase Slider today at the Apple Store. I also posted the question on how we win a real one on the Gowalla forum on GetSatisfaction.com. Here’s the post. Not everyone that finds a virtual Incase Slider wins a real one. Gowalla failed to properly and clearly state the rules. Shame on them. It appears that one person that does find a virtual item will win a real Incase Slider that will be announced on their Twitter feed. I feel very, very fucking disappointed.
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
If you haven’t seen it yet, Gowalla is a location-based iPhone app that allows you to check into spots & pick up or drop items that you collect. It’s recently become my second favorite iPhone app. I won’t go all into the details of the app here, but you can read my previous post comparing Gowalla and Foursquare.
Here are some tips or “best practices” that users can use to make Gowalla more enjoyable for everyone:
Some tips inspired from Gowalla:ProTips at bluwiki.com.
Web site – http://gowalla.com
Twitter – @gowalla
Look for updates to this post in the future!
I’ve come across two iPhone apps that people say are fun to have, play, and use. First, I found Gowalla (App Store link). Nice interface. Interesting GPS-based location game. You start off with a blank passport. You go to different locations (they call them ‘spots’) and check in. When you check in, you get a stamp for the spot. You can also pick up items or drop items at the spot for others to get. If you come across a new spot that no one has been to before, you can easily enter the location’s info into the app to create the new spot for Gowalla. If you drop an item in that new spot, you become the founder. You start of with five objects. Unfortunately for me, don’t live in a major city so I’ve had to drop all of items to become the founder of new spots. Not too big of a deal. I don’t think I’ll have a large collection of items until for a while. One nice thing, Gowalla will surprise you sometimes with giving you an item when you check into spots sometimes.
As for the finding ability of Gowalla, it uses the GPS on the iPhone and it works SPOT ON. No issues. If you make a mistake, you can edit the spot’s name, actual location on the map, category, and check-in radius. As far as I can tell, it’s for the web site only. There are multiple spots set up close together called trips. You can complete trips by going to each of the trip’s spots. You can also create trips for others to complete.
One last note about Gowalla: Do not get discourage if you drop all of your items if you live in an area where there aren’t many Gowalla users. You’ll find more when you check into spots. Trust me.
Next, is foursquare (App Store link). It seems to be popular in some major cities worldwide. It works similar to Gowalla in that you go to different locations and check into them. Instead of getting stamps in a passport, you can get badges and earn points for different things you do, like go to a new spot, bringing friends with you, and traveling some distance.
I’ve played with the app for a few days and have be very disappointed. Since I don’t live in a big city that’s supported by foursquare, I’ve had to create new locations. After doing so a few times, I’ve discovered that this app is not GPS based, but based off of addresses from Google Maps. So my new locations are way off from their actual location because foursquare does not use GPS to pinpoint my iPhone’s location. Even if you do edit the address of a created location, it still won’t be right due to Google Maps. I’ve tested this on the iPhone and on the Google Maps web site. The problem is with Google Maps. foursquare tweeted me after I tweeted with what I’ve found and they were quick to blame the iPhone’s GPS for the errors. They said “Phone GPS can be wonky sometimes… esp when deep indoors.” That might be true IF I was indoors, but I was outside. I WAS OUTSIDE. Now this might work great if you live in a major city, but I don’t. I live in the suburbs.
If foursquare ever changes how their app finds location then I’ll give it another try, but my clear favorite is Gowalla. Both apps are free, so it doesn’t cost you anything to give them a try and see for yourself.
