GPSmyCity Story, How It All Started
Hi, I am Jim Zhu, founder of GPSmyCity. I'm a keen traveler and enjoy exploring new destinations – something I have done quite a bit of over the years. The GPSmyCity travel apps were born out of my personal experience and frustrations accumulated during my trips abroad. Whenever I visit a new place, I always like to check out its well known historic and cultura
l attractions. Being a foodie, I will definitely taste the authentic local food as it is my firm belief that no trip to a foreign country is complete without trying out its cuisine. I also like to bring home something authentic locally-made, be it a souvenir or a special gift for a friend. Still, whatever modest my trip expectations are, few of them have ever been fully fulfilled. Back in the old days, visiting tourist sights in a city usually implied hopping on a tour bus or joining a guided group. I've done plenty of both and must say that both are fairly expensive, often costing $20-$50 per person for a half day tour, without much to offer apart from taking you to some well beaten paths. If I came to a city during off season, then I either had to choose from severely limited offerings or was simply left in the cold. Food and culture are so intertwined that, for a foodie like me, exploring a new destination inevitably involves sampling the local food. However, most restaurant guides that I've come across usually offer a laundry list of restaurants, from fast food to Italian. Very few of them would actually give you insider tips on good restaurants that serve authentic local dishes. Still, finding a decent traditional local food restaurant is only half the battle; more than once I would find myself in a foreign restaurant, staring at the menu wondering "What dish should I order?"
I've had even less luck with buying gifts and souvenirs. Over the years I have bought dozens of T-shirts from different countries simply because I did not know what else is there to buy. Naturally, I would rather bring home some real authentic local specialties as the trip memento. TripSuite - An Unconventional Set of Travel Guides
When I first saw an iPhone, the idea crossed my mind that iPhone, with its built-in GPS capability, would be a perfect platform for a new kind of travel guides that would solve the problems that I and other like minded travelers have faced during our trips. Since 2009, my team has been working tirelessly to create a set of app city guides which together be named TripSuite. TripSuite consists of the following apps:
City Maps and Walks. This app offers city maps and self-guided walking tours for over 470 cities worldwide. Detailed walking route maps and turn-by-turn walking directions are available to guide you to all the major attractions as well as some of the less known ones. MyCityCuisine. This app not only offers information about traditional local dishes, deserts and drinks, but also guides you to the restaurants or food markets where local food can be found. With a food guide to over 130 cities, this is the ultimate travel app for foodies! MyCityGiftShopping. This app provides gift and souvenir ideas of well-made, local products to bring home to share with friends and relatives, as well as guides you to the shops where you can find them. With a gift guide to over 70 cities and growing, I hope I will never have to bring home a T-shirt again. MyCityAntiquing. I've been collecting old printed maps from the 15th-19th centuries for a long time. As an avid antique collector, one of my biggest thrills, while on a trip, is to find an old map in an antique shop or old book store. This app leads you to the popular antique fairs, auction houses, and antique shops in over 110 cities around the world. Trip Planner. This app is a handy tool for planning daily activities for your next trip. You can create daily itineraries, write notes, track activities, and share your activity details with your friends. Hotel GPS helps you find the best hotel deals in over 200 countries. You can search the best rates from over 2 million hotel deals offered by hundreds of hotel booking sites, such as booking.com, Agoda, Hotels.com, etc. Photo Sharing and Earning Badge of Honor
While TripSuite is for visiting city attractions, tasting local cuisine, buying perfect trip mementos and hunting for your beloved vintage, a problem still remains. Over the years, I have taken a lot of photos whilst traveling. Today, when I look at the old pictures, I sometimes have trouble remembering where it was taken and what the sight in the background is about. Hence came an idea that it would be nice to allow travelers to organize their trip photos by the city attractions that they have visited and display them on a map. This way the person could see clearly where and when the photo was taken complete with a background information for the sight captured. Pursuant to this idea, my team has re-designed the GPSmyCity website into a travel photo sharing service, using which people can upload their trip photos from their digital cameras, iPhones or iPads, and share them with their friends. Additionally, we have added a check-in function, which we call "stamp", to the City Maps and Walks. The stamp function is enabled only when you are within a short distance from a sight and it is a mark of proof that you have actually visited the place. We track the sights you have visited and will give you a badge of honor if you are among the most prolific travelers in a particular city. I am adamant that traveling should be fun and I see no wrong in having a friendly competition among travelers. So, this is the brief story of GPSmyCity. I hope you will enjoy using our apps. Please feel free to send us your questions, comments or suggestions. Happy traveling to you all!
