Well, it’s wonderful how companies like Yelp and Google with their Maps feature help us all smartphone users find what we’re looking for and that they use crowdsourcing to help us make safer decisions. But what happens when these tools lead us astray or simply don’t give us the information we need? It seems like it happens to me all the time.

No, I’m not mad, because I remember when I bought my first GPS unit for my motorhome. Most of the streets were not on the list, only the main roads and the main roads, the data providers were not working together cohesively, even if the platforms like ERSI had a great system. A few years later, the dot-com bubble burst and didn’t get better for a long time. Google Maps is pretty good today, but I’ve had issues with bike paths, hiking trails, and such. We are soon told that the interiors of government buildings will also be mapped out, we may never be lost again: a promising future, yes, but that future is not here yet.

There was an interesting article in the Albuquerque First Business Journal on October 23, 2013 titled; “Rocks, Rivers, Trails Get The Local Startup Yelp Treatment,” by Dan Mayfield, who noted; “Outdoor fanatics can now start visiting hiking trails and kayaking creeks just like foodies visiting restaurants on Yelp. PlanitMapper site is active with bike trail listings , hiking, snow sports, kayaking and rock climbing in the state.

This is really cool because not long ago I was biking in the CA mountains and a couple of college girls stopped me along the way to ask if I knew where the “trailhead” was for a certain popular local trail. Well, I was on a 65 mile bike ride and I didn’t have much of a clue where I was. They said Yelp gave them the wrong directions, and I told them it didn’t happen, so it must be the other way around. They didn’t back down, so I guess they just gave up.

I told them; “Yah, Yelp sucks”, and they said “no kidding” and then I told them; “Who invented this road anyway,” pointing to the winding road behind me and all the curves going up some 1,400 feet in elevation, and they said “Yeah, right?!” Anyway, it turns out that Yelp was no help. So its good that they are fixing this issue with all the hiking trails, great start up idea, hope they make this happen. There is still work to be done. Please consider all this and think about it.