QuickAdvice: Google Places With Hotpot Helps You Discover Nearby Places You'll Love
Google Places (Free) by Google is a Google-based local search and discovery app. It lets a user search for places based on category. It relies on Apple’s map application to show results, but it has its own map built in for viewing multiple results at once. It is a little odd that you can’t view results for a specific location within the app; maybe this will be fixed in an update. The app is broken down into nine categories; Restaurants, Coffee, Bars, ATMs, Gas Stations, Hotels, Attractions, Pizza, and Post Office. You can browse through any category or type something more specific in the search bar. This app is only offered for the iPhone; however, don’t be surprised if an iPad version appears before too long.
The app prompts you with a sign in screen when you first open it, but this can be skipped, and is not required to use the app. It does require a location, you can let the app use your “current location” or enter a zip code. If you have a Gmail account already setup, you can sign into it, this allows you to use the rating feature. Each place offers the option of adding a rating and a review. Underneath your options there is a listing of previous ratings and reviews.
This app has a lot of features and functionality to offer. When you choose to “see on map” it plugs latitude and longitude coordinates into Apple’s Map app. You also get a phone number in the search results that your iOS device will recognize, allowing you to call the number right from the app. The “directions to here” feature also redirects you to Apple’s Map app. The last choice you have is “more information” which simply brings you to a web page in Safari with information on the selected place.
In comparison to apps such as Urbanspoon and Yelp, I believe Google has done a good job of bringing local searching to your iOS device. The listed places are extensive and detailed, even small places you wouldn’t expect to be listed show up. The app also utilizes Google Hotpot, a recommendation engine that displays friend’s ratings and reviews. Google is trying to bring the Places/Hotpot experience to all platforms, and we can expect to see some interesting integration on iDevices.
Overall, this is a great tool to add to your iPhone, and will definitely help you find local places of interest.
