Gowalla, who had recently unleashed events support, has just added spot search and friend sorting to the latest version of their location-based check-in app for iPhone. It used to be that if you wanted to check in somewhere, you would have to browse a list of spots already created around your GPS location, and if it wasn’t there, you had the option to create one. In especially popular areas, that could mean a lot of scrolling or time wasted writing up a duplicate spot, but with search you could easily find your spot if it’s already might. Friend sorting by location now allows you to see which of your friends have checked-in nearby, which is a feature that I’ve been really enjoying on Foursquare since adding a lot of out-of-town friends.
So, uh, search is kind of a no-brainer, isn’t it? I had played a bit with Gowalla on the X10 last week, and was surprised that there wasn’t the ability to search spots. Sure, you should only be checking in to places that you’re close by to, but there were some glitches that completely fubarred the possibility of finding your spot nearby. Although search would have been nice to have from the get-go, it’s good that Gowalla got it into this update. Folks using Gowalla on webOS or Android will be getting the features shortly, so sit tight.
[via Gowalla]
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