While Google is hosting events across the country encouraging local businesses to add their company's profile to Google Maps, one San Antonio company is taking the tech giant head on with a mobile application for local events, restaurants and businesses.
Called My City Linked, the free mobile app lists local events visually withthumbnails of event flyers that are interactive with the tap of a finger. Icons on the digital event flyer open either Google or Apple maps on the user's smartphone for instant directions, and another tap will save the event to the phone's calendar. Events can be shared via social media or texted to friends.
"It's taking a traditional way of advertising, which is flyers, and kind of I guess brought it up to speed, made them interactive, linkable," said Ruben Sanchez, founder and CEO of My City Linked. "There are too many search results on Google sometimes when you are trying to find local events."
Voice activated navigation in the app is not a function so far, but it's being considered. The application also doesn't link calendar events to external platforms, like Google or Outlook calendars. Instead of charging users, businesses can pay a premium to be featured.
Sanchez served in the National Guard for more than a decade and was inspired to create the application after he traveled across the country for work.
"When we were stationed in different places we were stuck going to chains. There was nothing wrong with it, but we wanted to break out of it, and it was hard to find those local places," Sanchez said.
Plans to launch a second version of the application in Austin are set for spring 2016.
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