Trover, a new app designed by the co-creators of Expedia and Zillow, is adding a social media element to taking a walk around the neighborhood. Leena Rao from TechCrunch reported that Rich Barton, Jason Karas and Andrew Coldham have founded Trover, which will work as a discovery app where people can share pictures of locations and recommend different places to visit. When opening the app, users will see a grid of pictures taken by others. The pictures will show up in order of closest proximity to each person’s current location, and the distance can be easily seen in fractions of miles away. Trover’s goal is to replicate the sensation of window shopping and finding new things in a neighborhood.

The app will be integrated with Facebook so that each person can see which of their friends took pictures of things near the area they’re at currently. Users will also have the option of following other people with similar interests to themselves, so they can know what places they might like. Each photo will also have its own profile page, where people can leave comments and recommendations for the location.

Conclusion

This new app isn’t that different than the new partnership between Urban Airship and SimpleGeo, which sends notifications to the smartphone whenever someone walks into a certain area, or does other certain things. But having a photo component makes for a more interactive visual experience than what’s already out there. Being able to physically see what something looks like and wanting to experience it could have a great appeal. The recreation of seeing something special with your own eyes could be what sets Trover apart.