Posts Tagged ‘Features’

Feature Refresher: My Places

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

I was out last night with a friend who frequently uses UpNext on his iPhone. He expressed his enthusiam for the app but had some additional feature requests. What surprised me was that the features he requested were already in the application and he just did not realize it. So periodically, we will post a refresher on some existing features that will help you better use the application. First up…

MY PLACES

My Places is found on the bottom of the home screen next to Categories. From there you have 5 options

1) Rated - see all the places you have rated

2) Favorites - see all the places you have favorited

3) Marked - see all the places you have marked (remember, bookmarks are private and not shared with the UpNext community)

4) Community - see the most favorited and highest rated venues based on the UpNext community. We aggregate everyone’s inputs and show the top places in each neighborhood.

5) Account - Here you have the ability to create an account, log into your account, log in with Facebook Connect

My Places is an easy way to bring up your favorite places and to see what other places UpNext users are talking about. If you use UpNext as your personal city guide, My Places is the best way to see those places you have been, want to go or need to share.

Central Park - Super Detailed and Interactive

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

Ok, so we admit that Central Park was just a green space on UpNext for a while. It was a pretty green space, but we did not have all the great details of the park. No more.

centralpark3

As you can see, we now have ballfields, terraces, zoos, lakes, ponds, roads and more filling up the park. And the best part is, that each of those is interactive. Simply tap and them to get more information.

centralpark2

Central Park is a wonderful treasure in the heart of the city. But navigating it can be difficult. Whether you are meeting friends for a picnic, looking for your sloshball game or attending a free concert, we just wanted to make it easier for you to enjoy everything the park has to offer.

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List View on UpNext

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

As you can probably tell, we are really big on mapping interfaces here at UpNext. Afterall, we spend all our time making 3D maps. But we understand that sometimes you just want to see things in a list. So we added the ability to see search results in list form.

Here is an example of a category search for Italian restaurants in Midtown.

listhome

In the top right is a “List View” icon, next to the “See All” button. Tap “List View” and you get this:

listview

You can now easily scroll through the results in an ordered list. You can sort your results by distance, name or rating.

Tap on the business you are interested to get more details like rating, address, phone number and reviews. From the Venue Info page you can tap on the “View in Map” button to locate the business.

Using the map interface is still the best way to explore NYC but we understand sometimes a list just makes sense. Enjoy.

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UpNext 1.1 Now Available - Faster and Better

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

The new version of UpNext 3D NYC (v 1.1) is now available in iTunes (Link). UpNext just got faster and better.

Make sure to upgrade to this new version to experience the significant improvements we have made. Also, if you have been waiting on getting UpNext, now is the time to get it for yourself.

Usability Updates
- Compatible with iPhone 3.0 software
- Compatible with iPhone 3GS hardware
- Better tap search
- Faster and Improved GPS locator

Central Park

New Features
- Central Park Landmarks, Baseball Fields and Boathouses
- Bike Rack Locator: Find bike racks in NYC (under Categories –> Recreation –> Bike Racks)
- Online Mobile Ordering through GoMoBo (under What’s UpNext –> GoMoBo)

Better Search
- List view for search results (top right corner of a search result)
- Address search will highlight buildings
- Better and smoother TAP Search

We will be posting more about these features but we wanted to get the news out about the version update now.

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See All Button - Unintended Benefits

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

When you perform a category search, you are given an option in the top right corner to “SEE ALL”. This feature was initially intended to simply allow users to quickly zoom out and see a larger number of results.

But after playing around with the feature, we realized it provided value beyond the quick zoom out.

Take for instance, Indian Food. Go to Categories –> Dining –> Indian. Once the search is completed, tap “SEE ALL”

indian-see-all1

The map zooms out and you can now see all your results. The interesting thing is the clustering of results in certain areas.

In the bottom right in the purple neighborhood, you see a dense clustering of lights along one street. This is 6th Street in the East Village. And if you have ever been to 6th Street you know that it is a destination for Indian food.

Similarly, there is another grouping in the middle right. This area is called Murray Hill also affectionately knows as “Curry Hill” for its numerous Indian restaurants.

Another example is Korean food. Again, go to Categories –> Dining –> Korean and then tap “SEE ALL” once the search is finished.

korean-see-all1

Just south of the Empire State Building you see a clustering of lights. This is West 32nd Street also known as Koreatown. There was even a small independent film called West 32nd Street starring John Cho (of Harold and Kumar fame) based on life in NYC Koreantown.

What we realize now, is that the “SEE ALL” feature is great for identifying ethnic clusters (Koreatown), industry groupings (garmet district), or nightlife hotspots (Meatpacking District).

So whether you are visiting for the weekend or are local to the city, make sure to check out this option.  You might find an area that you never knew existed.

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