Travel app shows where Williamsburg is in any city

Where is Williamsburg? is a free app that joyfully mocks self-centred New Yorkers while providing a genuinely useful travel tool.

Urban travelers have a tendency to compare the city they are visiting with their own, in order to help them understand it. New Yorkers, in particular, often draw comparisons between their own beloved neighborhoods and the place they are exploring — in Berlin for example, Mitte is seen as the equivalent of SoHo and Kreuzberg is known as the Williamsburg. Now, Where is Williamsburg? is a free app developed by Kate Ray, which joyfully mocks the self-centred perspective of New Yorkers while providing a genuinely useful travel tool.

The app was created using information from a Gawker article alongside advice from friends — but the advice is not set in stone. Once a user has tried out the recommendation, they can choose to agree or disagree, and if the city doesn’t have a recommendation at all, the traveler can suggest one themselves. The app has got most of America’s East Coast cities covered, as well as some European hotspots. It has even identified the “Williamsburg” of New York, which apparently is Bushwick.

While Where is Williamsburg? is tongue-in-cheek, the concept could prove useful and popular with millennial tourists. What other niche preferences can travel apps accommodate?