Geolocation services are a new trend in the development of mobile Internet in Russia. Millions of Russians use smartphones and tablets, and all of them are potential users of innovative products, such as the popular Flamp service.
What is a Flamp?
"Flamp" is an online platform (website and mobile application) where people can leave feedback on various organizations in their city and rate it 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 rating, affecting the rating of the company, the user can also leave feedback about their impressions of visiting the institution. "Flamp" was created by the developers of the well-known Russian IT company "2 GIS" (the flagship product of this company is the geographic information help 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 platform was announced and launched, in their interviews with the press admitted that the main goal of the project was to allow city residents to simplify their choice of places of entertainment. Now, at any time, they can take the help of other people. The first city whose residents were able to leave feedback on the Flampe was Novosibirsk (2011).
Then the branch was opened in Gorno-Altaisk. Six months after the launch, the platform opened itself to Moscow. I got the opportunity to write reviews on the "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 definitely know where to spend their time with benefit, and all thanks to the Flamp capabilities. Yekaterinburg (reviews of residents of this city confirm this information) also appeared before tourists in a multitude of assessments and points of view.
"Flamp" and 2GIS
In "Flamp" there is a large directory of companies about which users can leave their feedback. This service is closely integrated with the 2GIS platform, which accumulates a large amount of information about organizations in Russian cities. In their interviews, the creators of the Flamp resource admitted that such bases are rare among competitors, including foreign projects.
Flamp rival Foursquare?
There is an opinion in the user’s online environment that Flamp can become a direct competitor to a number of other online services, primarily the Foursquare site (a geolocation application where people can share information about places of the city with their friends, record their location, etc. .). The arguments of the supporters of this point of view are that both Flamp and Foursquare are socially oriented services, the traffic of both sites is based on information related to people visiting certain places.
Opponents insist that both in terms of ideas, and in terms of implementation, Flamp and Foursquare are completely different from each other. In particular, Foursqare does not contain tools that could objectively choose the best places to visit. Another argument of opponents of the thesis that Flamp 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 fact that “Flamp” and Foursquare are far from the same thing, the creators of the project themselves assure in their interviews. They emphasize that these two resources generally do not make sense to compare. According to them, Foursquare is more characterized by game mechanics through the so-called “check-ins” (marks on visits to establishments). In addition, according to the authors of "Flamp" (reviews of many users indirectly confirm this), Foursquare does not contain information that would be convenient to directly use as a source of decision-making about visiting, except for tips. In “Flamp” - the creators of the site assure - there is a whole range of necessary client information that can be received very quickly. There are many categories (and each compiles a rating of firms), as well as various filters that allow users to find the most suitable option in a matter of seconds.
Another difference between Flamp and Foursquare is the principle of adding organizations to the database. If in the Russian project people from the state of 2GIS are doing this, then in the American project the users themselves can add new firms (in turn, the so-called “popular” Foursquare moderators can make the necessary adjustments).
"Flamp" and "Yandex.City"
Another opinion: the competitor of Flamp is the Yandex.City project. True, he appeared recently - in June 2014. As conceived by the creators, Yandex.City should help users find closely located and at the same time able to provide a high level of service facilities - cafes, beauty salons, hotels, shopping centers, disco clubs, etc. In some localities, partially implemented functionality for organizing prior bookings, reservations, etc.
Yandex.City works based on user feedback on the places they have visited. A significant part of the comments the project receives from partner sources. Firms that are gaining enough reviews get a rating. Information about organizations also falls on other resources - Yandex.Maps, as well as Yandex.Navigator.
On the one hand, “Flamp” and “Yandex.City” can really be called similar services - on both sites there are reviews and user ratings about visited establishments. On the other hand, there are fundamental differences. First of all, it is worth saying that Yandex.City is completely free for companies (in terms of posting and updating information). At Flampe, businessmen are forced to pay for the same actions.
What do users say?
There is an opinion that ratings and reviews on "Flamp" are subjective phenomena. However, everything that users write is moderated. Also on the site there is the opportunity to appeal the review. Some users of "Flamp" believe that the site has a convenient 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 Flamp has a big plus in the form of full integration of a database (information about organizations) with 2 GIS, in which there are a very large number of commercial firms from various cities where this system and Flamp are available (Chelyabinsk or, say, Barnaul). Many users emphasize the lack of direct analogues of the service. And they note with enthusiasm the fact of the possibility of using such a platform in various regions of the Russian Federation, where Flamp came to (Barnaul is the same).
Many people mention the useful Flamp option: reviews can be accompanied by setting the highest score in the form of a sixth star (this means that a person openly recommends an institution). Among the shortcomings are the lack of clues (which, meanwhile, Foursquare has). Many also note that the search in the "Flamp" of friends through social networks is not implemented (only through the internal search bar).
Geolocation component
A useful feature of "Flamp", which is noted by the owners of mobile devices, is the ability to lay routes along which you can optimize the path to selected institutions. 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 much more useful in the city.
From the point of view of application design, minimalism, the convenience of switching between different cities, the use of one of the leading cartographic platforms (Google Maps), a very large database, and the fact that there are several modes at once sorting establishments (for example, according to work time - around the clock and those that are open, say, at the moment). The convenience of writing comments is noted.
Interesting facts about Flamp
There is a version that “Flamp”, reviews of which are left not only by users, but also by many media persons of the online space, is a product aimed at a youth audience (while 2GIS services are used, according to some experts, mostly people more mature age).
In order to view reviews, you do not need to register in the system. But for the publication of your comments and for the use of many useful options, this is necessary (however, the questionnaire is very simple, and registration of the account will not take much time).
The search system has filtering stores by time. 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 "Flamp" (Omsk is, or, for example, St. Petersburg - it does not matter).
Users can accompany reviews with photos.
Under the label Flamp.Ru, contests and entertainment events, parties are sometimes organized.
For active users, the system provides a number of bonuses and rewards.