This morning on WHAS radio I heard a brief story about a new app for Louisville, Louisville Essential Guide. I was in the truck so I made a mental note to check it out. I stopped for a cuppa joe and did a look up and then downloaded the app.
Produced by Sutro Media, and written by Deborah Kohl Kemer. I was happy to hear this story, although, I can not find a link promised on WHAS radio. It is in the App Store: you can download from iTunes or your iPhone, and the story said it was available for other smart phones. This is a needed app for Louisville if for no other reason than the restaurants in our city.
Once downloaded I started it. The opening screen is a night time photo of downtown and the Louisville Gouge for Electric building, along with the writer and producer names. It then moves to the activity screen. At the top right is a pull down menu with All in it. When tapped you get a wheel with All, Antiques, Arts & Entertainment, Bourbon, Eateries, Favorites, HIstory, Kid Friendly, Lodging, Museum, Shopping, Sports, and The Great Outdoors. You can filter and Sort by Name, Distance, Cost and/or Neighborhood.
The Apps greatest strength is its deepest weakness. This is the LOUISVILLE Essential Guide, but when you tap Done on The Great Outdoors, nine items show on the screen, four of which are at least 20 miles from Louisville and one is 124 miles. I will say that Cumberland Falls State Park is great, but hardly an essential for Louisville. In the Kid Friendly area there are numerous listings of 30 to 80+ miles and I really am not sure that Buffalo Trace Distillery or the National Corvette Museum are 'Kid Friendly'.
Under the Antiques listing there are thee businesses listed. One is in Bardstown, one is in LaGrange and then Joe Ley in downtown. Where is Goss Ave., or Crazy Daisy? There are no grocery stores listing. With so many great places here like, Mike Best, both The Fresh Markets, and Burgers I can't undersand why not. The Eateries listing has Belle of Louisville. Are the suddenly serving lunch or dinner whilst docked? But, so many places are not listed: Michelle's on Goss, Checks, Impellizzeri's or Peking City Bistro. On the up side they do have Dizzy Whizz Drive-In listed! They have Fourth Street Live listed but bless their heart, it is just that and not umpteen places listed out, lining the pockets of a company from another state. Under the Lodging section there are six places, three in Bardstown, one in LaGrange and two in Louisville. 21C is not listed. Nor are any other non-chain hotels or motels.
This is a fair to average first draft of an App. More research on Louisville Hot Bytes would have given the writer a deeper knowledge of the food scene, activities and attractions, and a list of dozens of people who could and would have given her addtional information and ideas. The App is fast when used but that could be that the info is not overwhelming. There is a sections of photos for places in "Louisville" or some place close to here, and the photos are included in the App and they don't go out and download them each time. It is intuitive and rather easy to use. Over time I think they will update the database of information. There is a comments section for users to use. I will be. With a cost of $1.99 I am loathe to heartily recommend this to smartphone users. Yelp is free and has more categories, but, still Louisville Essential Guide is local and for new arrivals to Louisville it would be of help as a starting place.