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Name: GateGuru
Quick Pitch: GateGuru is designed to redefine the in-airport experience.
Genius Idea: Even for those of us who travel frequently, airline travel can make the most calm among us want to pull their hair out. GateGuru’s iPhone app [iTunes link] serves as a mobile directory for 100 different airports in the U.S. and Canada, and can help you avoid travel headaches, at least for the airport portion of your trip.
The app experience is pretty much self-explanatory, and you can poke around inside the airport nearest you (and checkin if you’re at the airport), the last airport you visited or select one for the app’s list. You can then choose to peruse the entire airport or limit your digital airport exploration to a particular terminal or concourse.
The terminal/concourse guide is essentially the meat of the application, so you can see a comprehensive listing of all airport amenities, or filter for just food, shops or services. Each amenity has its own GateGuru listing so users can view the exact location, add photos, write and read reviews, update information or bookmark a place for future reference.
GateGuru also includes a gaming element reminiscent of Foursquare’s leaderboard. In the HighFlyers section, users are awarded points for checking-in to airports, rating and reviewing amenities. This month JetBlue is sponsoring the contest, so the member that accrues the most points nationally for the month of June will win two free JetBlue tickets. Regional winners will also get $100 gift cards.
Overall, we find the app to be a handy airport utility and may make those stressful travel experiences much more manageable, and possibly more rewarding.
[img credit: timo_w2s]
Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
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Tags: gateguru, iphone app, spark-of-genius