SS+K alum Joe Sayaman (remember him?) and Peter Cortez, the creators of Citydoping NYC, a new tour guide app, want to help “visitors feel like a local” when they come to New York for a few days. The app was built for advertisers who want to fill in the spaces between conferences and meetings with a trip to a cool restaurant or bar that is presumably off the beaten path. New York has many beaten paths, but the content comes from Manhattaners and Brooklynites who must know low-key venues that are awesome and hidden, because, well, they’re from Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The app seems useful for out-of-towners who want to be towners for a couple of days. And we can empathize with people who want to avoid 90-minute waits at overpriced eateries and/or hate walking behind those people taking pictures and clogging up the sidewalks. However, there is a faulty logic to Citydoping worth pointing out: the goal is to direct tourists to unknown gems in NYC, but if enough people buy the app (for $2.99), then those spots will become just as crowded as the original attractions the creators were avoiding in the first place. Just something to think about.
The promotional video above has the slick production of an Apple commercial, but no Jeff Daniels. Even so, you should watch it and/or just go straight to the App Store.