Over the past couple of years, these travellers have been helping Dopplr to build a thing they call “the Social Atlas”. It is the combined wisdom of these frequent travellers, people who know a good hotel, a nice restaurant, and an interesting place to explore when they see one.
Wherever anyone is in the world, he/she can call up his/hers current location and find the nearest places that Dopplr travellers have recommended. If the person is hungry, open the app and find a cafe. If he/she is tired, it will help him/her locate the nearest hotel. And if the person has got time to kill, find something interesting to see or experience.
The app is not just a view of the atlas, it is also a means of adding new places to the database. By just tapping the blue locator, it would allow people to enter the details of the fantastic new bar they are standing in. Travel tips are added to what Dooplr know already, and automatically shared with fellow travellers.
People do not even need to be on Dopplr to use the iPhone app. If iPhone users are simply doing some travel planning for a forthcoming business trip or family gateway, there is plenty of useful information built-in, including Dopplr’s recommendations for 250 of the world’s most popular cities. Any places added will be stored on the iPhone, so these can be easily found again when needed. And if the user joins Dopplr at a later date, all those new places will be uploaded and added to the Social Atlas.
If the user is a Dopplr traveller, he/she can keep an eye on his/hers fellow travellers with the iPhone too. Check where friends are now, and where they will be going next. Look for co-incidences, where people might all be in the same place at the same time. And stay in touch, by sending messages to them directly from inside the app.
This is just the start. Dopplr is already working on more features for the app, which will appear in future updates. The app can be downloaded for free by following the link on the iTunes App Store.