Personalized smartphone map shows users their favorite places

Citymaps enables users to 'collect' and share places they love. It will even begin to suggest points of interest based on their use.

The days of hand drawn routes and dogeared car maps are long gone. Most people now turn instinctively to their smartphones for directions, and while existing online maps do the job of getting people from A to B quite satisfactorily, the latest version of Citymaps has a lot more to offer. Citymaps 2.0 is a visually rich map which enables users to annotate and bookmark their digital world. It lets them create shareable ‘collections’ and will even learn the tastes of users over time, resulting in a personalized map which emphasizes specific venue types and brands.

The mapping platform’s focus is points of interests: in among the streets and stations it shows users the whereabouts of restaurants, bars, stores and more — all represented by the brands’ logos — so users can explore areas before they even arrive, without needing to know exactly what they are looking for. Formerly US only, the platform now offers worldwide coverage with a database of more than 80 million points of interests. Businesses can promote themselves by offering deals through the ‘Explore’ tab.

The app encourages users to place pins and give star ratings to places they like. It also lets them create themed location lists called ‘collections’, which they can then share with friends. They can even create collaborative ‘collections’, pooling their knowledge of an area with like-minded people, or creating location to-do lists before an upcoming trip.

Are there any other uses for the platform? Perhaps it could be used to promote events in real time, showing users where films are on or gigs are happening? Citymaps is available for free on iOS and Android.