FourSquare vs. GoWalla

After spending the last few weeks checking-in everywhere, on both FourSquare and GoWalla I have come to the conclusion that neither app does everything I want, but one emerges as the clear winner.

Overview
FourSquare is more like a social utility, and GoWalla more like a geocaching tool. FourSquare sends you email alerts when your friends are nearby. GoWalla allows you to see your friends recent activity, but you need to seek that info yourself under a different navigation item. Both GoWalla and FourSquare offer rewards like badges and things, but FourSquare adds another element to the fold and that is to be crowned Mayor of your local haunt. This is surprisingly compelling. Something about being the Mayor is like beating your friend at a video game. GoWalla shows the top check-in counts, which effectively makes somebody the Mayor, but there is no official title.

User Interface
The GoWalla interface trumps the FourSquare interface hands down. It’s easy on the eyes, functional, and fun to use. The touch-drag-down to refresh is a unique and intuitive way to refresh location lists. Very cool. FourSquare’s UI feels a bit clunky in comparison.

GPS Location Mapping
Again, GoWalla reigns supreme in this department. I used GoWalla all over the Province of BC and it was almost pinpoint accurate at finding my location via Google Maps. This made adding new locations much easier. It also allowed me to check in only when I was actually at the place, where as with FourSquare I could check in after the fact — this could lead to issues in the “game” aspect with people possibly checking in unfairly. At times adding locations in FourSquare was a pain because the GPS location was not accurate. This forced me to manually enter an address. GoWalla also seemed to have a better list of locations. I think this might be due to a connection with Google and drawing on its already mapped businesses.

Community
I can’t say this for everywhere, but FourSquare wins this at this point in British Columbia. Vancouver particularly seems to have more FourSquare users than GoWalla users. I know GoWalla had a strong presence when I was in Austin, Texas, but that is likely because the software originates there.

Suggestions to Better GoWalla / FourSquare
The one feature that both of these apps lacks is the ability to connect directly with the places at which you are checking-in. Both have the ability to connect with Facebook and Twitter, but neither of them integrates with Yelp, or OpenTable. I would love for it to integrate with OpenTable in some way as that would allow reservations and communication with the restaurant directly. This may not be immediately possible as OpenTable does not have the same level of community. These apps are also not just about restaurants, but if either could develop more interaction with the locations that would prove useful.

The Winner
In my eyes the winner is GoWalla. It is superior in almost every way. Now it just needs to develop a bigger community in my area.

Other Reading
FourSquare vs. GoWalla at Jeff Croft
FourSquare vs. GoWalla at SXSW