This is a screencapture of software developer Danny William's website, http://www.iamdanw.com. Mr. Williams developed an app that helps people avoid crowds when visiting certain London-area museums.
Foursquare grew 3400 per cent in 2010. That's a stat Mashable recently reported, along with details about the top check-in spots (such as New York Penn Station) and the one and only check-in from space (October 22nd from the International Space Station).
With so much hype about location-based social services, it's rare to read about the opposite of this trend. Dan W. Williams is changing that. The UK-based software developer recently launched a tool that best fits into the relatively small category of anti-social services.
As a growing number of people flock to Foursquare destinations, When Should I Visit shares the best time to visit various attractions. The definition of "best time," in this case, is the least busy time. For example, if Tuesday is the most popular check-in day at The British Library, you might want to wait until the slowest check-in day to drop by (which, according to Foursquare data, is Sunday).
Although the site is only compiling check-ins for London-based museum, galleries, and theatres, there is an opportunity for such a service anywhere in the world. Williams explains online that when Twitter user @beng asked a museum in London which day was the least busy for visitors, he promptly created the tool in less than 24 hours to take a swing at the answer.
He admits "it's better to phone the museum and ask a human" right now and writes that the tool needs some work and more extensive data from sites such as Facebook. Developers, listen up. As the digital world becomes increasing social, Williams is likely leading the way for a number of services and apps that will let the anti-social among us to check out from the crowds who check in.