Record Your Travels, Share Your Experiences and Discover New Places with Oxford Start-up Esplorio
17th June 2013
Having a detailed travelogue of any journey is as easy as specifying two dates with Esplorio, the latest start up from Oxford University. Using your social media channels, Esplorio automatically populates a timeline with locations, posts, tweets and photos. The result is a comprehensive journey that can either be stored as a keepsake or shared by link, Facebook or Twitter with a single click. Scattered memories of a trip, otherwise so easily lost, can now be permanently part of the Esplorio Trip Diary.
At the moment, Esplorio connects with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Foursquare, Google Latitude, Picasa, and Instagram. The application is the brainchild of founders Tim Fernando and Rami Chowdhury and comes through the Isis Software Incubator, part of Oxford University Innovation, the Technology Transfer Company of the University of Oxford.
Seasoned travellers for both business and leisure, Tim and Rami found keeping track of all their trips difficult. They realised that there was nothing on the market that integrated the information we are all used to posting on our networks when we are excited about being in a new place. Tim explained: “I realised that I use my smartphone and camera throughout my trip, but the result was scattered all over the place – a few photos on Flickr, GPS tracks on Google Latitude, restaurant finds on Foursquare – sharing all those memories in one go was impossible. We’ve made it easy and fun. Your friends and family can even keep track of your progress via a shared link that is continuously updated as you update on the move.”
Rami added: “Anyone who uses the application can now have instant memories of past trips, compiled by Esplorio, with a few clicks. Because all the importing is automatic, it’s effortless. We’ve worked really hard on making Esplorio user friendly – we’ve cleared away the social network ‘noise’ so there isn’t chatter from other people you barely know, there aren’t any ads, and we maintain your privacy as none of the trip information is shared unless you want to.”
The founders also wanted to encourage people to travel. Tim said: “Travelling is one of the most exciting things in life, and we want to inspire people to do more of it. One way we did this was to include achievement badges and flags in your Esplorio profile which you can earn as you travel, and then show off. You can even earn combos – been to the UK and the USA? There’s a Special Relationship Badge.”
The future for Esplorio is to suggest destinations based on past trips. This will include flight, hotel and car rental deals. Since trips are logged in their entirety, Esplorio has a perspective that is unique in the travel industry.
Tom Hockaday, the Managing Director of Oxford University Innovation said: “The software incubator has once again proven to attract the very best from the Oxford system. Tim is an employee of the University while Rami is alumnus. Their efforts have resulted in a niche product with great potential.”
A beta version of the Esplorio website is now live and the team is keen to have visitors join their journey.
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