Navigating cities by mood

Guidebooks and recommendations are all very well, but there’s very little point in discovering a new activity, restaurant or shop if you’re not in the right headspace to enjoy it. Enter I Feel London (or Toronto, or New York as is appropriate), a site that lets users search for things to do based on their mood. Currently in beta, the I Feel sites bring a new spin to Google Maps. There’s a map for each one of nine moods, covering such feelings as naughty, hungover, girly, sophisticated and broke. Andy Whitlock, I Feel’s London-based founder, has kick-started each map by populating it with a handful of activities, with future contributions to be made by anyone who requests an invite. We’re hoping each map won’t be bombarded with contributions, though: we like the limited, curated choice currently on offer. Whitlock is tapping into the zeitgeist: map-based concepts are popping up everywhere. Why? As explained in trendwatching.com’s latest briefing (which covers mapmania and five other trends for 2009): “Geography is about everything that is (literally) close to consumers, and it’s a universally familiar method of organizing, finding and tracking relevant information on objects, events and people. And now that superior geographical information is accessible on-the-go–from in-car navigation to iPhones–the sky is the limit.” Websites: www.ifeellondon.com Spotted by: Janice Freeman