RIVERCENTER GOES MOBILE
The home page of the new Only One Red Bank app. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank RiverCenter, the downtown business-promotion entity, has gone mobile with the introduction of an app for iPhones and iPads.
“It’s part of our marketing mission, getting information about Red Bank out far and wide, and making it easy to come to the theaters and restaurants and stores in town,” says RiverCenter executive director Nancy Adams.
She envisions visitors getting off the train and using their iPhones to find places to go.
“There are who just don’t want the paper” on which directories and maps have heretofore been printed, she says.
Mimicking RiverCenter’s website, and branded with the agency’s “Only One Red Bank” slogan, the app’s meatiest element is its business directory, broken down into categories of dining, shopping arts and services.
Users can dig into “books” in the shopping list, for example, and find, well, no book stores, but two retailers carrying books among their wares.
Under “Italian” in the dining list are 20 eateries, including Mr. Pizza Slice and Sicilia Café. Listings include tap-to-call phone numbers and links to websites, where available.
The app features a page of “hot deals,” though no deals are yet being offered.
“We’re hoping to have our local ‘Groupon-ish’ feature loaded with special offers very soon, says longtime borough resident Steven Craig Sickles, who built the app, at no charge, using it as a prototype for a service he plans to offer elsewhere.
Also featured:
An events calendar, so far showing Tuesday night’s Menorah Lighting at the train station (no time given) and successive $5 Cheese Fridays at the Cheese Cave on Monmouth Street.
Municipal phone numbers
RSS feeds from two news sources, one of them being the area’s only independent, Authentically Local online publication: redbankgreen.
“To cement the app’s hometown appeal,” Sickles says he’ll be adding “more local interest and social networking features, including resident, local journalist and business blogs, and even a feature that will allow users to know when their other friends are in town.”
The app uses Google Maps to direct users, and as some of its familiar errors are immediately evident. The locator map for the mid-block Bagel Station on Monmouth Street, for example, shows it at the corner of Monmouth and Water streets the actual location of Juanito’s restaurant. Juanito’s, meanwhile, appears to be located on the railroad tracks at the nearby train station.
The app still has some glitches to be worked out, Adams says. And there’s no non-Apple version available yet, though RiverCenter is exploring the possibility of getting one.
Dec 20, 2011 @ 12:56:44
The world does not revolve around the sacred Apple.
Dec 20, 2011 @ 13:05:39
This is a great idea, but assumes that the entire world operates using a smartphone.
Dec 20, 2011 @ 14:58:34
Just downloaded it and it looks great! Easy to search by topic, restaurant listings give mini write-ups and phone numbers I can use by tapping, and links to news article work easily. I can see this as something I will use. Now, let’s see if we can populate the Hot Deals section a bit more… 🙂
Dec 20, 2011 @ 16:42:41
Thanks RBG for the shout out. (And yes, the duly noted only independent, authentically local online publication, whose news feed we were delighted to provide on our app).
As for Google maps, yes, you’re absolutely right; if one uses Google’s official geocoding utility (i.e., you give it an address, and it returns the GPS coordinates), it can be notoriously inaccurate. (Indeed, if you look on the web-based Google Map of Red Bank they plop Staples right next to RBC!) That’s why I’ve recently hit the streets and taken over 1,000 photos to try to nail down more accurate GPS coordinates for all the businesses, which, obviously, is an ongoing process. (And no mean task.) In the interim, I’ve just ‘relocated’ Juanito’s and The Bagel Station closer to their actual locations, and added 6pm as the starting time for the Menorah lighting festivities. (These updates should be immediately visible to app users.)
Furthermore, while we’re in the development phase, if anyone has corrections/ideas/feedback they want us to address please send them to info@urbanwonderer.com, or give us a call at 732.383.5512, and I’ll personally make sure they’re seen to immediately. Happy holidays to all…..