The Magazine

Foursquare builds its own connected app for cleaning up the venue database

14

on October 18th, 2012

Foursquare today began leveraging their own connected apps platform with an app designed to help keep their venue database clean.

Once you’ve connected the Location Editor app to your account, it pops up occasionally on the post check-in screen to ask for your help with questions meant to clean up the venue database. Your answers fill in missing information like addresses and phone numbers.

Location Editor is designed to only ask you for help occasionally and mostly when you’ve checked in to a place where you’re a regular. It’s being promoted to superusers, but it’s unclear whether regular users can at least submit suggestions through the app.

It’s interesting to see foursquare take advantage of their own connected apps platform to easily launch this feature simultaneously across their three main mobile platforms rather than building it into each app separately. It shows the power that developers can harness with a well-done connected app.

Have you connected Location Editor to your account? What do you think of it?

  • http://itswilder.com It’s Wilder

    Got connected to this today. Can’t wait to see how it works.

  • https://www.foursquare.com/user/1014163 Pierre Jessop

    I, for one, think it’s a great idea.
    Being on location, it will allow to add information very easily.

  • https://www.foursquare.com/user/3716712 Wendy Kwan

    this is going to make me sound elitist, but i hope they’ll keep this to superusers only. i don’t want to go back to venues to correct punctuation and capitalization… -___-”

  • http://www.c0wb0yz.com c0wb0yz

    It seems to be quite open to everyone… For superuser duty, I prefer to rely in hopscotch by Nick Patrick, an app featured here one year ago http://aboutfoursquare.com/hopscotch-the-first-mobile-app-for-foursquare-superusers/

  • 5square

    As someone who has been trying to become a SU, and is constantly flagging venues, submitting changes not only from my phone, but from the website as well… I think this is a great idea.. Because now I know what venues Foursquare (*notice how I capitalized the F there?!?!) wants corrected immediately or has questions/concerns about..
    Only people who really have interest in making Foursquare better are going to input this service, let alone be aware it even exists! AND Im sure that every correction that gets submitted wont immediately go in to effect and will only help the current SU’s in place already.. So, im not sure how this why people like @Wendy Kwan is concerned about keeping this a “SU Only” feature!
    As a SU.. you are already dealing with punctuation and capitalization issues.. the whole point of this app is to correct the simple mistakes.. this app if anything is helping you.. not hindering you.. and then in the end.. will bring on more qualified SU’s to lighten your load.. Its probably a weeding out process to the 1000′s of people who probably (like me) already have their second application in with a solid referral and are just waiting in line for Foursquare to start taking on more SU’s again..

    • Eric (SU2)

      Hey there 5square, I don’t think foursquare is necessarily looking at quantity when selecting SU’s. It’s mostly about quality in terms of following the house rules and if what you submit is actually accepted/approved. Either way good luck and be patient because it sometimes takes months before a request is approved depending on necessity in the area/staff time required to look through the applications.

  • Timothy Harrison

    I connected the app, but have yet to see it suggest any corrections.
    As a SU2 I’ve been updating venue information all along thru the app. Flagging info in the app would automatically update it.
    I do like the idea though of the connected app suggesting updates for info I might not have realized needed updating.

    • Eric (SU2)

      I received one suggestion, it asked if I knew the phone # to a location in the screen immediately after you checkin. When I clicked it, it gave me the option to either fill in the field or say I don’t know/there is no #.

  • Ruffian

    I connected it, but have yet to be prompted to make any changes. When I’m out and about I either use hopscotch to fix venue information, or if it’s something I’d rather do when I’m back at my computer, I have a “Venues to Correct” list that I save it to so I can find it easily when I’m home.

  • Eric Stumpf

    I used my laptop to connect with the app. Does this mean it is also working on my IPhone when I am out and about?

    • http://aboutfoursquare.com Chris Thompson

      Yes.

  • http://www.almediapage.info/ Tom Servo

    This sounds like a nice idea and I connected to it when I saw the notification that a fellow SU friend had connected to it in my news stream, but I have to wonder how useful it will be. After all, the places most likely to be updated are the ones I check in to on a regular basis. It’s the ones I don’t even know exist that need the most work. Since there’s no Hopscotch for Android, we’re kinda stuck.

  • https://www.foursquare.com/user/175034 Richard Lawler

    I’m a SU2 and yesterday when I checked in at a (relatively new) place it prompted me to add the phone number, I happened to be right at the counter, so I asked and added. Simple.

  • Two K

    I’ve been using it for some time now. I think it’s popped up maybe six or seven times, and so far, only for missing phone numbers.
    But I think it’s a great addition to the tools Foursquare supplies us SU’s.

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