Visualizing Foursquare in Fort Wayne

Let’s take a look at some of the Foursquare data from the Fort Wayne area and determine what we can learn from it shall we?

Using analytics tools from Sysomos I’ve been pouring over data for the last three days of Foursquare in Fort Wayne and learned some interesting trends. To be fair this wasn’t a scientific study but rather I looked at the raw check-in data then the users making venues, the users checking in, and the number of times a location has been visited on Foursquare.

So what did I learn?

• The majority of Foursquare check-ins take place NORTH of Illinois Road.
• A few pockets of venues do exist. Downtown, Coliseum Blvd, Dupont Road, State Blvd, and Coldwater Road.
• Typically, five or six Fort Wayne Foursquare users have created check-ins starting Downtown, then for venues closest to their home.
• Foursquare check-in pockets typically take place in higher income areas according to the 2000 census.
• Venues and check-ins are less prevalent outside of the 469 loop with the exception of Dupont road and the area of Lima leading up to Dupont road.
• Many locations that could be new venues exist on the South side of Fort Wayne that have been untouched.

So I discovered a few interesting trends with Foursquare.

What do you think of this data? Let me know in the comments.

Gowalla vs Foursquare

Location aware services are to many the future.

A brave new frontier of data, sharing and monetization opportunities. We are on the ground floor of this new technology and plenty of startups have formed around the gaming and social elements.

Two of these startups are Foursquare and Gowalla. Both offering a unique check in system, game play and social element. I’ve been using both extensively to determine which would win my own personal daily use.

When I initially started Gowalla was my only choice. Foursquare was limited to certain metro areas only. Fort Wayne is a large city but was never large enough to see a rollout for a long time. Gowalla on the other hand allowed you to play in any place at any time. This gave me the chance to use Gowalla for quite some time while the majority of my friends in the larger cities played on Foursquare.

Gowalla has a great interface, great in game graphics, a good Facebook connect implementation but not as many users of Foursquare.

Foursquare has more players, as well as more incentive to play. Gowalla offers unique items that can be picked up at various check in locations while Foursquare doesn’t offer an immediate item for your check in it does give you a number of points and a chance at mayorship.

Mayorship is a unique element that at some establishments can offer immediate benefits at certain establishments. Some stores, coffee shops, restaurants and bars will offer you some special benefits, discounts, and freebies for becoming the mayor.

Gowalla has no system currently that is similar to this with rewards. While this isn’t to say that certain places can’t offer something like this Gowalla doesn’t seem to be going after that. A huge mistake by them in my opinion.

The community on Foursquare seems to be more solid but again this could be chalked up to having more users but I personally feel that it is also because they have been doing a better job at connecting with the community.

One thing Gowalla offers that I really miss in Foursquare is a weekly digest email. The email sums up the places you have been as well as a sampling of your friends activities for the week.

Foursquare users seem to share more often, have more friends and play the game more due to the mayorships.

Foursquare is more social in that it shows what your friends are doing while Gowalla puts a special emphasis on what you are doing.

So which one comes out on top? For me it was Gowalla until I started playing Foursquare more. Foursquare allows me to see more of my friends, allows me to discover new venues that my friends frequent better and has a wider audience.

If you are stuck in the middle of the two games keep trying them both but I find that overall the Foursquare experience is better.