What Apps Make the Best Use of Geolocation Services?

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase geolocation services? Probably, Google Maps. But there are dozens of ways geolocation is being implemented today. More developers are integrating geolocation services into their mobile apps. Location-based apps (LBA) allow users to track where they are or the places they have visited previously, discover places they want to go to, or even find friends, love interests, or activities nearby. There’s everything to love about apps with geolocation features.

The trend of developing these apps will only grow in the coming years. If you are still wondering how you can use geolocation, here are app ideas that incorporate it wonderfully:

Social Networking and Messaging Apps

There were almost 2.65 billion people on social media globally, with the number expected to reach 3.1 billion by 2021. And in 2019, about 2.52 billion mobile users used popular messaging apps to communicate. Social media and messaging apps are among the most popular applications nowadays.

Almost everyone who owns a smartphone today is on social media and has a messaging app on the personal device. And people can share their locations via their posts. Snapchat and Instagram, for example, have a map you can view and geotag your posts so that your followers are able to know where you are sharing them from. So, if you want to build a social media app, you should consider adding geolocation.

On-Demand Delivery Apps

On-demand service is one of the trending topics in business at the moment. Enterprises are increasingly under pressure to take their goods or services to the customer’s doorstep. On-demand delivery is simply the transportation of a product to a customer after he or she has made an order. The food and restaurant services are one of the areas that have seen widespread adoption of delivery apps. Apps such as Uber Eats and GrubHub use geolocation to set delivery and pickup locations.

Mapping and Navigation Apps

Perhaps the most used mapping/ navigation app people know is Google Maps. It helps you mark or find places, roads, streets, lane, or traffic using aerial photography and satellite imagery. Google Maps is one of several other navigation apps on the market today. If you want to create a GPS app, geolocation features are a must. Apart from giving users directions, these types of apps also show you the path to your destination as you move and, moreover, reviews and recommendations of popular places or spots depending on where you intend to go.

Weather Apps

Weather apps have become a vital part of our lives. They help you know what kind of weather to anticipate before you leave the house in the morning. You can check the weather at a glance. A good weather app must have geolocation features. That is, it should give reliable weather forecasts based on the user’s location at the time. So, users can get information that is specific to them rather than seeing predictions for the city as a whole on their phones.

Dating Apps

We have all seen the growth of Tinder, probably the most popular dating app around. Usually, these dating apps help people to meet and set dates with suitable matches within their location. Therefore, they have to use geolocation to know where users are and connect them to other users who share the same interests in nearby areas. So, geolocation is an integral part of any dating app development.

Health and Fitness Apps

Apps that allow users to keep track of their fitness have grown quite popular these days. And with fitness bands and other wearables, these apps are now more commonplace. According to recent findings, more than 75% of users open their health and fitness app at least two times a week. This niche is quite a profitable business for mobile application developers. By incorporating geolocation, health, and fitness app, users can find and track nearby sports activities such as marathons, half-marathons, swimming, cycling, etc.

Cab Booking Apps

Uber, Lift, and other taxi apps rely on geolocation to pick and drop off customers. Usually, the customer sets the location on a digital map, and the nearest available taxi comes to pick him or her up. Customers can also detect where drivers are to know how long they will get there. Fare amounts are also calculated using geolocation features. Without geolocation, booking rides online would be impossible or, at best, challenging.

News Apps

There are location-based apps that notify users about important things happening in their area. You will find apps that give you crucial alerts about natural phenomena such as earthquakes and storms, human-instigated attacks, climate threats, etc. around your area. These apps collect information automatically from reliable local newspapers.

Travel Apps

Fond of traveling? Having a handy travel app on your smartphone is one of those things every tourist has on the checklist. These apps can serve different uses. For example, some are for recommending sites or restaurants in specific destinations. Others could be for planning routes, directions, or even booking accommodation. For travel apps to perform all these functions, it must have geolocation functionality.

AR Apps

Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive computer-generated experience where users can enhance real-world objects through their cameras. AR apps with geolocation functionality can allow users to overlay physical direction to roads and streets. Marketers can also use AR and geolocation to show customers the latest deals and discounts when they point their mobile phone towards their store, hotel, etc. These apps can also be used to study astronomy. For example, there are apps that you can point to the sky, and it overlays information about different constellations to you.

Ending Note

As you can see from these ideas, there are so many ways to use geolocation technology except Google maps. Different applications have geolocation features, from socializing and dating to gaming and traveling. And there’s still so much to explore. If you are a mobile app developer or are thinking of hiring a development team to design a mobile app for you, you should consider the aspects in your app that could benefit from geolocation.