Geolocation services are a new trend in the development of mobile Internet in Russia. Millions of Russians use smartphones and tablets, and they are all potential users of innovative products like the increasingly popular Flamp service.
What is "Flump"?
"Flump" is an online platform (website and mobile application) where people can leave feedback about various organizations in their city and rate them on a 5-point scale. Their value forms the rating of firms.
The site is designed as a kind of guide for choosing the best shops, restaurants, fitness centers and other typically urban establishments. In addition to giving a rating that affects the rating of the company, the user can also leave a review about their impressions of visiting the establishment. Flump was created by the developers of the well-known Russian IT company 2 GIS (the flagship product of this company is the geoinformation reference system of the same name).
The purpose of the project
The creators of the "Flamp" service, reviews of which began to appear on the Internet shortly after the announcement and launch of the platform, admitted in their press interviews that the main goal of creatingThe project is to allow urban residents to simplify their choice of places to spend their time. Now at any moment they can use the help of other people. The first city whose residents were able to leave feedback on "Flampe" was Novosibirsk (2011).
Then a branch was opened in Gorno-Altaisk. Six months after the launch, the platform opened itself to Moscow. Got the opportunity to write reviews on "Flampe" Krasnoyarsk. The creators plan to ensure the operation of the resource in all cities where there is a 2GIS system. This is very useful for tourists planning trips: they will know exactly where to spend their time usefully, and all thanks to the possibilities of "Flump". Yekaterinburg (reviews from residents of this city confirm this information) also appeared before tourists in a variety of assessments and points of view.
"Flamp" and 2GIS
In "Flampe" there is a large directory of companies about which users can leave their reviews. This service is closely integrated with the 2GIS platform, which accumulates a large amount of information about organizations in Russian cities. The creators of the Flump resource admitted in their interviews that such bases are rare among competitors, including foreign projects.
Flump competes with Foursquare?
There is an opinion in the online user environment that Flump can become a direct competitor to a number of other online services, primarily the American site Foursquare (a geolocation application where people canshare with your friends information about places in the city, fix your location, etc.). The arguments of the supporters of this point of view are that both Flump and Foursquare are socially oriented services, the traffic of both sites is based on information related to people visiting certain places.
Opponents claim that both in terms of idea and in terms of implementation, "Flump" and Foursquare are not at all similar to each other. In particular, Foursqare does not include tools that could objectively select the best places to visit. Another argument of opponents of the thesis that Flump and Foursquare are competitors is that the American service is not popular enough in Russia and cannot be a serious rival to domestic online projects.
Opinion of the authors of the project
The creators of the project assure in their interviews that "Flump" and Foursquare are not the same thing. They emphasize that there is no point in comparing these two resources at all. In their opinion, Foursquare is characterized to a greater extent by game mechanics through the so-called "check-ins" (marks on visits to establishments). In addition, according to the authors of "Flump" (reviews of many users indirectly confirm this), Foursquare does not contain information that would be convenient to use directly as a source for making a decision to visit, except perhaps hints. In "Flamp" - the creators of the site assure - there is a whole range of necessary client information,which can be obtained very quickly. There are many rubrics (and each one ranks firms), as well as various filters that allow users to find the most suitable option in a matter of seconds.
One more difference between "Flump" and Foursquare is the principle of adding organizations to the database. If in the Russian project people from the staff of 2GIS are involved in this, then in the US, new companies can be added by the users themselves (in turn, the so-called “people's” Foursquare moderators can make the necessary adjustments).
"Flamp" and "Yandex. City"
Another opinion: Flamp's competitor is the Yandex. City project. True, it appeared quite recently - in June 2014. As conceived by the creators, Yandex. City should help users find nearby and at the same time capable of providing a high level of service establishments - cafes, beauty salons, hotels, shopping centers, disco clubs, etc. In some localities, partially implemented functionality for organizing an appointment, booking, etc.
"Yandex. City" works based on user feedback about the places they have visited. The project receives a significant part of the comments from partner sources. Firms that collect enough reviews receive a rating. Information about organizations also gets to other resources - "Yandex. Maps", as well as "Yandex. Navigator".
On the one hand,"Flamp" and "Yandex. City" can really be called similar services - both sites have reviews and user ratings about visited establishments. On the other hand, there are also fundamental differences. First of all, it should be said that Yandex. City is completely free for companies (in terms of posting and updating information). At Flamp, businessmen have to pay for the same actions.
What are users saying?
There is an opinion that the ratings and reviews of "Flump" are subjective phenomena. However, everything that users write is moderated. There is also an option to appeal a review on the site. Some Flump users think that the site has a user-friendly interface, and also note that in many cities there is an impressive database of online reviews.
There is also a point of view, according to which "Flump" has a big plus in the form of a full-fledged database integration (information about organizations) with 2 GIS, which represents a very large number of commercial firms from various cities where this system and "Flamp" (Chelyabinsk or, say, Barnaul). Many users emphasize the lack of direct analogues of the service. And they enthusiastically note the fact of the possibility of using such a platform in various regions of the Russian Federation, where "Flump" came (Barnaul is the same).
Many people mention the useful "Flump" option: reviews can be accompanied by giving the highest score in the form of a sixth star (this means that a personopenly recommends the establishment). Among the shortcomings is the lack of tips (which, meanwhile, Foursquare has). Many also note that the search for friends through social networks in Flamp is not implemented (only through the internal search bar).
Geolocation component
A useful feature of "Flump", which is noted by the owners of mobile devices, is the ability to lay routes along which you can optimize the path to selected establishments. Many users are glad that through this service you can find not only catering establishments and shopping and entertainment centers, but also ATMs, payment terminals and many other useful things in the city.
From the point of view of the design of the application, it is noted minimalism, ease of switching between different cities, the use of one of the leading mapping platforms (Google Maps), a very large database, as well as the fact that there are several modes that sort establishments at once (for example, by opening hours - for round-the-clock and those that are open, say, at the moment). The convenience of writing comments is noted.
Interesting facts about "Flump"
There is a version that "Flump", reviews of which are left not only by users, but also by many media personalities of the online space, is a product aimed at a youth audience (while 2GIS services are used, according to a number experts, mostly older people).
Toto view reviews, you do not need to register in the system. But to publish your comments and use many useful options, you need it (however, the questionnaire is very simple, and registration of an account will not take much time).
The search engine has filtering stores by opening hours. This feature can be very useful at night - you can find, say, pizza delivery services that work around the clock. It is active in all cities where there is a "Flump" (it's Omsk or, for example, St. Petersburg - it doesn't matter).
Users can accompany reviews with photos.
Flamp. Ru sometimes organizes competitions and entertainment events, parties.
For active users, the system provides a number of bonuses and rewards.
