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The author doesn't seem to go into why travel-planning software is not successful, except for that it isn't discoverable since people only use it once in a whil

by llampx 5y ago

The author doesn't seem to go into why travel-planning software is not successful, except for that it isn't discoverable since people only use it once in a while. I think the same can be said for a lot of services, like handymen (Angie's List) One other reason is I think that travel planning is hard. Getting multiple people to agree on a destination, hotel, fares etc is all hard work. So most people only plan things with people whom they're familiar with, like close friends and family. If there's already a communication channel open like texting or Whatsapp etc it makes no sense to introduce more friction by having travel discussion go through a different channel. I remember an app for couple communication, Between. It had a similar problem. Why add another communication channel?

bellyfullofbac 5y ago
Surely there's a way to do it better than just over text? It's a 4-dimensional (time and space) experience isn't it: "After lunch on day 2 of the vacation, what attraction do you want to visit?", or, "When do we have time to squeeze a visit in that café that all the Instagrammers post about? [Yeah, like it or not this is the reality]". A Miro[1]-like collaborative map would be interesting, every participant of the trip can vote what they want to see, the app can calculate the best itenerary (route and time), maybe even split up the group if some members are really not interested in some things (e.g. a visit to the local football team's museum, or the 5-star steak restaurant where there are vegan members). [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pULLAEmhSho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pULLAEmhSho
- TeMPOraL 5y ago
  It's more than a 4-dimensional space - it's a probability distribution over 4-dimensional space, one that you want to explore ahead of time, and you never really know for sure where you're on it until your trip is over. I'm yet to see a planning tool that handles this. What I mean by the "probability distribution" part is, your trip plan isn't really a specific plan - it's a set of possible plans. You may have concerns like, "what if we arrive late on the first day?", or "what if the main attraction for the 2nd day is closed", or "we're not sure at this point where we'll eat", or "oh crap, it's raining today, what do we do?", etc. You have to navigate these questions in your head. I'd love to have a tool that makes this easier.
nicbou 5y ago
Ideally, such software should be tooling, not an all-encompassing platform. I use Google My Maps a lot for trip planning. When I'm done, I can share the map with other people, or export it to my phone. This is good. A tool like that that would also facilitate discovery and collaboration - a sort of Google Docs for maps - would be a lot more useful.

by llampx 5y ago

bellyfullofbac 5y ago

Surely there's a way to do it better than just over text? It's a 4-dimensional (time and space) experience isn't it: "After lunch on day 2 of the vacation, what attraction do you want to visit?", or, "When do we have time to squeeze a visit in that café that all the Instagrammers post about? [Yeah, like it or not this is the reality]". A Miro[1]-like collaborative map would be interesting, every participant of the trip can vote what they want to see, the app can calculate the best itenerary (route and time), maybe even split up the group if some members are really not interested in some things (e.g. a visit to the local football team's museum, or the 5-star steak restaurant where there are vegan members). [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pULLAEmhSho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pULLAEmhSho

TeMPOraL 5y ago
It's more than a 4-dimensional space - it's a probability distribution over 4-dimensional space, one that you want to explore ahead of time, and you never really know for sure where you're on it until your trip is over. I'm yet to see a planning tool that handles this. What I mean by the "probability distribution" part is, your trip plan isn't really a specific plan - it's a set of possible plans. You may have concerns like, "what if we arrive late on the first day?", or "what if the main attraction for the 2nd day is closed", or "we're not sure at this point where we'll eat", or "oh crap, it's raining today, what do we do?", etc. You have to navigate these questions in your head. I'd love to have a tool that makes this easier.

nicbou 5y ago

Ideally, such software should be tooling, not an all-encompassing platform. I use Google My Maps a lot for trip planning. When I'm done, I can share the map with other people, or export it to my phone. This is good. A tool like that that would also facilitate discovery and collaboration - a sort of Google Docs for maps - would be a lot more useful.