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Go Mobile at Balloon Fiesta This Year

So you can't remember where Park and Ride is, and you're already in the car. Or you've done the brave thing and decided to go in your own wheels but forgot to bring the map that tells you which way you're supposed to enter the park. Or worst of all, you're on the field and dying for a breakfast burrito and wish you knew exactly where among all the vendors you can score your favorite eats.

If you've been to Fiesta, you've probably had something like that happen to you. I know I have. And that is why we at APPCityLife have worked with Balloon Fiesta to create a free mobile guide with everything from daily schedules and links to enable ticket purchases right in the app to maps that will be wired with special info you can access just by touching the map.

And what's really cool is that Balloon Fiesta officials will be sending instant notices to the app during Fiesta to alert users to any events that may be delayed or cancelled.

Oh, and it's free. Did we mention that?

If you have an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, download APPCityLife, select the Albuquerque guide and then touch the hot air balloon once it rises to the top of the page.

Tags: ABQCityLife, APPCityLife, Balloon, Fiesta, app, city, guide, iPhone

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Permalink Reply by Kathy W on September 15, 2010 at 8:25am

Oh that is cool!

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Permalink Reply by jeff on September 15, 2010 at 8:33am

droid in the works?

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Permalink Reply by ABQCityLife on September 15, 2010 at 8:35am

Yes, indeed, Jeff, it is. It won't make it for this year, but the software team says it should be available for the next one.

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Permalink Reply by Benny the Icepick on September 15, 2010 at 10:20am

Fun app! And the BF section is really helpful. Two bits of constructive criticism:

Right now the only way to return to the main page from the Balloon Fiesta is to hit "Done" in the "Info" panel; might be nice to have another option to get back.

Also, the maps are lovely, but next time don't forget to include the bike path into the park and the location of the bike valet. It'd just help us get our bearings once we roll up to the park. So many ways to get there!

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Permalink Reply by ABQCityLife on September 15, 2010 at 12:04pm

Benny - thanks SO much for the feedback. I've passed on your suggestion about closing the guide to the software team. It's a great suggestion.

As to the bike trails, this is the Balloon Fiesta's map, so it's their graphic. I'll look around and see if I can find a map with bike trails for the area that we could add to the app. We will be hot wiring bike valet info into the survival guide map; it's one of our tasks to finish before Fiesta begins!

If you have a specific map you like to use for trails, let me know so I can see if I can get permissions in place to use it if it's copyrighted. ~Lisa info@appcitylife.com

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Permalink Reply by ABQCityLife on September 16, 2010 at 11:20am

FYI - check the Balloon Guide now. We heard your request and added a button to each tab in the guide so that users can exit without navigating back to the landing page.

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Permalink Reply by ABQCityLife on September 29, 2010 at 12:21pm

Based on your requests, we added the bike route maps and even a list of the businesses we could find in ABQ that rent bikes. If we missed one, please let us know.

By the way, Balloon Fiesta has another paid app with photos and info of all the balloons coming. You'll find the promos and special offers in the free app (ours) and the detailed balloon info in the paid app. We worked with Fiesta to create a useful app - hope you all use it and let us know what you think. We're part of the community and want this to be a service for you all!

To find both apps, open up the iTunes app store and search for "Balloon Fiesta" - both will come up. Ours is also available for iPad.

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Permalink Reply by Benny the Icepick on September 29, 2010 at 12:35pm

I saw that last night and brought it up at the BikeABQ meeting. Everyone with an iPhone was scrambling to download it. Great stuff, thanks!

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Permalink Reply by ABQCityLife on September 29, 2010 at 12:38pm

Thanks! We're open to suggestions, so if there's something missing that we can add, let us know. It's a learning experience, so we appreciate all the feedback we can get.