Folium: Asknative Gets Locals to Answer Your Travel Questions via Lifehacker

Posted by LEAF Architect on Thursday, January 24, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Folium: Asknative Gets Locals to Answer Your Travel Questions via Lifehacker

I’m a smartphone junkie, and when I travel I often struggle to think of new ways to make my phone “smarter”. I often rely on apps like Yelp, Urbanspoon, and Google Places. However, I’ve always said that nothing beats the knowledge of a good local person to help you find the good stuff around town!

Well, now there’s an app for that (trademarked) too!

Asknative is a free iOS app that teams up with your Twitter account to ask geographic-specific questions, and get answers from people who know the lay of the land!

Technology gets a lot of flack for drawing people further apart, but here’s a great case of crowd sourcing questions to bring people (and small businesses) together!

“To start, you just get the free asknative app, sign in via your Twitter account, and ask any questions you want. If you know the answer to a question someone else posted, you can answer. But beyond just providing a place to share information on a global network, asknative will help you translate text so you can communicate even if you don’t speak the language. It’s also really easy to sort by location and type of question. You can search, too. The app comes with several useful features for when you’re traveling, too, like a special mode to avoid excessive data consumption (in the event you’re on a limited plan or roaming). While you could post in a forum or just search for the answer you need, you may not always find it. Asknative provides a focused community and an app with features that can help you make the most out of your trip.” – Lifehacker.com

There’s an app for that!

This year, while traveling with our study abroad students, I noticed that many of them were glued to their iPhones at every possible opportunity. At first I was upset at how they could possibly divert their attention from the world around them until I realized just how and why they were using their phones. Each student was furiously uploading pictures, writing short narratives of their experiences, and extolling the virtues of their study abroad experience to all of their friends. They were sharing the world with everyone they knew just as fast as they could take it in.

Technology doesn’t have to be the enemy of great travel experiences. Why not connect with the locals by any means possible! Just another way to draw our world closer together!

Do you try and shop and eat local when you travel? Why or why not?

Have you ever asked people around town, trying to find new places when you’re on the road?

How do you utilize technology to make your life easier while traveling?