Vindigo Expands Content and Coverage

Vindigo has announced an expansion of its content and support offerings for additional U.S. markets. Vindigo provides users with location-specific information about subjects ranging from dining and entertainment to hospitality and weather in over 35 U.S markets and London.

Vindigo 2.0 now includes local weather from Custom Weather and public restroom locations courtesy of The Bathroom Diaries. Vindigo 2.0 users can check the local weather, in any supported city, from the Vindigo home screen or view an extended forecast.

Users can search for bathrooms based on location, or specifics such as changing tables, wheelchair access or cleanliness. They can even locate restrooms known for celebrity sightings - after all, when nature calls, even famous people have to answer.

Users also have the ability to enter an address and pinpoint its specific location - saving valuable time when heading to a destination. By tapping the "directions" button on the Vindigo home screen, users can enter an address and view the location on a map. In addition, Vindigo provides cross streets and directions to the destination.

Newly added markets include:

  • California -- Orange County, Long Beach County and East Bay (Berkeley and Oakland)
  • Florida -- Tampa Bay
  • Missouri -- Kansas City and St. Louis
  • Nebraska -- Omaha
  • New Jersey -- Bergen County
  • New York -- The Hamptons, Nassau County, Suffolk County, Westchester County
  • Ohio -- Cleveland
  • Tennessee -- Knoxville

By simply entering their current location, Vindigo users can access extensive entertainment options and local information, including restaurant reviews, movie reviews and show times; museum exhibits and live music performances. The service also includes detailed information about services such as the location of the closest ATMs, gas stations, parking garages and police stations. Vindigo 2.0 comes complete with ratings and reviews from brand-name content providers, maps and directions to any listing.

Article Comments

 (18 comments)

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PalmInfocenter is not responsible for them in any way.
Please Login or register here to add your comments.

Comments Closed Comments Closed
This article is no longer accepting new comments.

Down

Yay ... Finally recognition that Orange County is NOT LA :)

Token User @ 10/9/2002 12:41:52 PM #
I wonder what Vindigo will do if the valley successionist movement wins out. "Vindigo 2.0 - Camelot Edition"? Oh my God, that would like, be a like, bitchin version dude.



~ "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed." - DV ~

RE: Yay ... Finally recognition that Orange County is NOT LA :)
derby @ 10/9/2002 1:08:38 PM #
well, their coverage in the valley isn't that good to begin with. i live in studio city and couldn't get any information worth mentioning from the service.


-- derby
RE: Yay ... Finally recognition that Orange County is NOT LA :)
Token User @ 10/9/2002 1:38:44 PM #
FWIW - I wrote a PQA that hooked into a system we put together for the LA Times Calendar Live section. Covers LA and Orange County (and the valley). Pretty much a restaurant and club guide - personalised and searchable.

It is PURELY WIRELESS. No content stored locally.

You'll find it at http://makeashorterlink.com/?G1B421E02

I doubt there will be any updates to it - the company went under a couple of months back. Pity, the underlying technology was sound.

~ "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed." - DV ~

RE: Yay ... Finally recognition that Orange County is NOT LA :)
Token User @ 10/9/2002 1:43:04 PM #
BTW - The screen shot on the Calendar Live app in the aforementioned link is actually taken from a Blackberry. The Palm screen is a little smoother in rendering.

~ "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed." - DV ~

Still not what I want!

dannanews @ 10/9/2002 1:18:11 PM #
I had Vindigo when it was free and loved it. Then they got rid of Zaggots and started to charge $30 a year for the service. I can't stand the other review service that they use. First of all it is missing too many restuarants and the reviews are not always accurate.

My other complaint is that they support one GPS module for some Palm devices, but none of the GPS modules for the Handspring Visors.

Add better reviews or GPS and I'll pay up, add both and I'll pay double. Without that it isn't worth my time or money. I still have the free limited version on my Visor, but I haven't used it in months even though I eat out about 3-4 times a week.

RE: Still not what I want!
Macisgreat @ 10/9/2002 2:00:57 PM #
Actually, the Gayot seems considerably more accurate than the Zagat. The Zagat's reviews appear at times to be manipulated too easily by organized responses. Also, it looks like the majority of the Zagat reviews are from the shiny suit, gold chain crowd. Anyway, I find the new Vindigo services better generally. Frankly, why would you think that a company can provide free services forever and stay in business. If you think this is unjust, please start a similar service and let me know so I get get it for free:-) $24 (including their discount) seems reasonable for what they offer.
RE: Still not what I want!
dannanews @ 10/9/2002 2:28:38 PM #
Last April when they started charging for the service I had tried the Gayots and didn't like it. My biggest complaint about Gayots is that they didn't have enough restaurants. I also like the way that you could search through Zagot better. You could sort by more categories. I also tended to use it for more formal restaurants that I don't frequent as often, for example when I take the in-laws to a nice steak place. I found Gayot pointed more towards the college crowd than the professional user. I could be wrong since I didn't use it that much. In addition I used it primarily in Boston which most likely has a different review than in San Fransico for example.

I don't have any problem that they are charging for the service now, its just not worth it to me. It just seems a bit like they were offering less of what I wanted 6 months ago. I got addicted to it when it was free, but as soon as they switched to Gayot I didn't like it as much. Then they started to charge. For my money it wasn't worth it to subscribe. If they continue to improve their service I'll try it again. Or, if they add GPS or Zaggots I'll pay up.

I really want the GPS service. It seems like they are so close because they already did it for one device. If I remember correctly it was for a Palm III or V GPS sled. There is no way that I'm down grading to that device. What would be awesome would be GPS support from the new GPS enabled smart phones. That way you would still have the expansion slot available for memory.

RE: Still not what I want!
Nate @ 10/9/2002 3:14:10 PM #
I paid for it, and I'm glad I did, but I also want more features. I know that it's not good policy to buy software because you think giving them money will make it better, but in this case it seems to be working. I like the weather feature (which I noticed about a month ago) and I'm hoping that they add more features like that. GPS support would be a good next step.

RE: Still not what I want!
Shel @ 10/10/2002 12:41:15 AM #
I happen to also like it. I'm in the L.A. area, and while it doesn't provide much info for the valley, I'm not usually in the valley.

For finding movies and showtimes, it's the fastest, easiest way I've found! Beats looking movies up in the newspaper (the type size is a joke!), and movie phone is a navigation nightmare! I would spend more time navigating movie phone then actually watching the movie!

Would be nice if you could indicate favorite theaters, but otherwise, specifically for finding movie showtimes, I think it's well worth the $$$.

RE: Still not what I want!
Servo @ 10/10/2002 7:37:45 AM #
Vindigo supports GPS. All it requires is an NMEA compatable receiver on your serial port. I know it works with my Magellan GPS Companion on my m515.
RE: Still not what I want!
dannanews @ 10/10/2002 11:19:48 AM #
Servo,

Can you give us more information on how to use GPS? I've looked at the Vindgo web page and emailed Vindgo, but they say they only support one GSP device.

Do you have this working?

You can email me directly at my username above at earthlink.net. I'm trying to avoid spam. Thanks.


I paid for vindigo

MediaThreat @ 10/9/2002 8:28:26 PM #
I paid for vindigo content. The fee is super reasonable. $24 dollars or so for an entire year. They also cover london, a ton of places in the usa, and it's accurate and timely.

Sure, there are more features coming. If you eat our or travel, I think it's a worthwhile expenditure. Just for the record, I am among those who continuously post that games for the Palm cost way too much. They want to charge $15 - $25 for some game that should cost $5.

$24 a year for a dynamic services that covers the world is a good price from one cheap dude.

RE: I paid for vindigo
iain.collins @ 10/10/2002 5:48:13 AM #
quote:
$24 a year for a dynamic services that covers the world is a good price from one cheap dude.
:end quote

I live in London and agree, it's a good deal, especially if you live in a large city like London or New York.

flame:
However, given Vindigo supports only the USA and London, I think your statement that it thereby 'covers the world' is seriously unfunny.
:end flame

RE: I paid for vindigo
SabMary @ 10/10/2002 8:29:03 AM #
I pay for this service as well and find it extremely useful. Here is my best "why Vindigo rocks" story... It was a rainy evening in NYC and I was on my way to an event in a part of town that I was not familiar with. I used Vindigo to get the subway directions to the restaurant where the event was held. And I also used the "directions" function to get the walking directions from the subway to the restaurant. This saved me a tremendous amount of time. A friend of mine who doesn't have a Palm or this service got lost going to the place and was stuck walking around in the rain trying to find it.

Love The Service, But It's Not In My Area

mashby @ 10/10/2002 1:24:09 PM #
I used to use Vindigo for when I travelled. It's a great service and is well worth the money. Unfortunately, since Nashville is not included in the content offerings, it's hard to cough up the yearly fee. I simply don't travel enough to make it worth my while.

I'm glad they've expanded to Knoxville. Now if they could only come a little west... :)

Michael T. Ashby
Director
InterPUG
http://www.interpug.com

Vindigo slow on my Treo 300. And you?

salamandoor @ 10/10/2002 10:36:00 PM #
I used to use the Vindigo software on my Palm when it first came out.

I just bought a Treo 300 and find the Vindigo 2.0 software painfully slow.

Is it just my short attention span, is it the Treo? Does anyone else find it slow?

How much RAM does it use?

LanMan @ 10/11/2002 10:15:01 AM #
Can one of the new version users comment on the amount of RAM that it uses? Also, is it VFS ready?

Full-time computer network engineer
Part-time computer science teacher
Christian till the end-of-time <><
RE: How much RAM does it use?
rmach @ 10/11/2002 12:27:50 PM #
There is not VFS support that I can find. The size in RAM depends on the number of cities and the information you download for each city. The full info for a city is about 1Meg. When you select things on their web page to configure what is downloaded, they should you the size it will take on the PDA.

Top

Account

Register Register | Login Log in
user:
pass: