NERDZ LAB
Your tech partner for ideas never seen before!
Your tech partner for ideas never seen before!
Eatmap is a social app for discovering eateries. Users can also capture, upload, rate, and share stories, like experiences at eateries. Those short videos will be pinned to the eatery on the app’s integrated map for other users to browse.
The client asked NERDZ LAB to design, develop, and release an iOS version of the app to the AppStore.
The client came to us with a vague idea and asked us to shape and implement it in a working app. In addition, they were pretty strapped for funds, so we had to develop a solution that met a budget constraint.
One of the main requests was to create a stories feature. They wanted the app to show short videos of users’ experiences at local eateries.
NERDZ LAB had to deliver a solution that displayed eateries nearest to a user’s location. In addition, the client wanted us to implement animated objects that would download and appear on the map without lag, along with many short videos created by users.
The client envisioned a competitive element to encourage users to use the app more and thus retain users.
After several meetings with the client, NERDZ LAB conducted a comprehensive review of existing products on the market. We outlined the future product’s prospective competitors and analyzed and compared them to our client’s needs, requirements, and capacity.
With appropriate permissions management, like access to a device’s camera, contact info, and user’s content, we enabled features to capture, upload, share, and rate food experiences.
NERDZ LAB analyzed all existing map solutions on the market. Based on the client’s requirements and budget, we picked Mapbox.
The dev team created customized animations for pinned stories to reduce the load on the map itself and use as few resources as possible compared to ready solutions existing on the market. This choice also allowed for smooth scrolling.
For the Eatmap 2.0 release, we planned to cluster the pinned stories according to their similar geolocation to reduce the workload on the map. This way, a large number of places in one area wouldn’t overload the map rendering.
We implemented in-app bonuses (e.g., fries) for visiting and sharing newly discovered places. This feature added a gamification factor: getting scores for competition among app users.
