As of today, FourSquare, OpenTable, and TripIt are all available on Google (GOOGL) Glass, adding to the suite of travel and exploration apps like Field Trip and Word Lens. So now, Google Glass can manage your itinerary, find attractions close to you, translate signs, book table, and check you in where you arrive.
Granted, these are all things you can just do with your phone — but Google says that at least with Glass, you can actually look at the sights around you while you figure out how the heck to get to the Colosseum.
Google Glass ambassador (amb-Glass-ador?) Timothy Jordan demonstrated the new apps for Betabeat at Glass Basecamp in Chelsea.
OpenTable and Field Trip seemed helpful for exploring a new city or neighborhood you happen to stumble into. When we said, “Okay, Glass, explore nearby,” a list of the closest restaurants, sights, museums and attractions popped right up. In a city like New York, that can be as useful for the natives as it is for the tourists.
“In New York, there are 10 things every night you just have to do and try,” Mr. Jordan said. “It’s good having something to help you chose.”
Word Lens, which we tried next, is one of the wow-factor apps for international travellers. It lets you look at a sign in another language — the one Google showed us was an “Emergency Exit” sign in Italian — and shows you a photoshopped version of that sign in your native tongue.
Unfortunately for tourists, wearing Glass probably won’t help blend in with the natives. But maybe if their eyes are up, they’ll at least stop crashing into those of us who have to commute home through midtown Manhattan.
“New York is very friendly to those people,” Mr. Jordan said. “but it’s cool to have technology that helps you to not be that guy.”
