Go Crowdless: Philly’s Neiman Group Making NYC Less Aggravating This Holiday Season
Anyone in the Philly area knows that heading into the Big Apple to see the sights is usually a maddening experience around the holidays. This year, however, the folks at Neiman decided to use their digital powers for good by trying to reduce sightseeing stress.
After the success of Philly SteakOut (check out Mikey’s coverage of that, here) the folks involved with Neiman’s R&D unit, Neiman Labs decided to take Foursquare data a step further, and today launched their latest project: Go Crowdless.
I had a chance to chat briefly with George Ward and Chris Reif, two of the brains behind the operation. Go Crowdless focuses on 20 of NYC’s most popular holiday attractions (like Radio City and Rockefeller Center), and attempts to predict the most crowded and least crowded times based on when users “check in” on Foursquare.
“Foursquare data isn’t a perfect snapshot of the overall visiting population, but it’s still helpful. The more visitors check into these venues, the more accurate ‘Go Crowdless’ will be as December rolls on,” George said.
“There’s so much potential to use this check-in data to create useful tools for people,” Chris added. “That’s why we wanted to make something like this. Plus, I really can’t stand crowds, so this one was personally a favorite of mine.”
While Go Crowdless is currently only monitoring venues in Manhattan for the holidays, Neiman Labs plans to adapt it for future uses in other cities. I personally hope it comes to Philly so I’ll know when not to walk past the Liberty Bell. No matter what city it pops up in next, Go Crowdless is a clean, smart way to use social media for good. Be sure to check it out if you’re heading into NYC this holiday season.
