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Gobot — The Citymapper bot
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Top Hunter
@bentossell if it gets built into FB Messenger and I don't have Citymapper installed, it'll be faster. 😁
@chrismessina would totally work if all I typed in was "London Kings Cross" and it gave me the routes. I dont need bots to be nice to me and butter me up haha
@bentossell @chrismessina I totally agree, Ben, that took a loooong time.
Here's how I would imagine a bot experience to work for Citymapper:
Bot: Hi
Me: Hi, I want to go to Union Square
Bot: You can take the 2 or the 3 from where you are. (bonus points: If you want to walk less on this end, you can also take the 1.)
Me: I'll take the 2 or 3 (or just click one of the options)
Bot: Here's when they are arriving at the nearest stop to you, and there's a map in case you need it.
@bentossell more of a marketing thing right now really seems to me. Although could be fun to have it for real as a Telegram/FB Messenger/etc. bot that would send me to Citymapper app with the route pre-selected based on my replies. Brave new world.
Top Hunter
@sholtaway @bentossell shouldn't just be plain text. That's missing the opportunity that conversational software unlocks!
I've got to side with @bentossell, I use Citymapper in Berlin, London and SF and would use it everywhere if possible. The bot seems very gimmicky and slower than opening the app and picking your locations.
Maybe they'll bring it to their apps. I still wonder what the right interface for bots is. Pressing a button is faster than writing text, what about speech or using native APIs like GPS etc to enhance a bot.
Bots are exploding, @rickats is correct, but what is the best use case ?!
Bots are getting hotter and hotter. Not sure if this interface is the most efficient way of using Citymapper. Is anybody actually using it this way?
My only quibble with the app itself is I feel like I've saved a bunch of routes or commutes that are supposed to appear on my home screen, but then they only appear there sporadically, if at all. If somehow the bot could always remember precisely the same "usual" routes in the morning and at night, I'd find it helpful!
@andym_dc Doesn't this work for you? http://thenextweb.com/apps/2016/...
Citymapper is the perfect example of a product that gets value from its UX/UI. It loses value if you remove the interface.
Ha! After I answered a few questions, one of the possible options was "Show me my stuff" and it listed for me exactly what I mentioned a few minutes ago I'd find useful. Kudos to Gobot and Citymapper!
I like it, i'll keep testing it. CItymapper in general is the only reason I would buy a wearable (watch) after eons without one. It's interface, interaction and experience make it even more useful than it already is in any other gadget.
What happened to the GoBot, it seemed a few weeks ago it just stopped working and now you can't navigate to it without the Link.
I like this as a web interface, when I'm sitting at my desk and planning a trip, but I'd need to fling it to my phone eventually to "take it with me" to make it useful.
That said, Citymapper is one of my all-time favorite mobile apps. It works so well and so fast, and the app's UI is really well done that I doubt I'd use this bot as the process seems slower.
Makerpad