In first 10 days, 1,189 people downloaded 'Explore Hamilton' app
Apr. 13—To the delight of officials at the Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, 1,189 people have downloaded the new "Explore Hamilton" app, which lets people learn about new and old businesses in town, see their menus, and find parks and upcoming activities.
"We're actually at 1,189 right now," Tiffany Grubb of the chamber said Monday morning. "I've gotten nothing but positive feedback."
For residents and people working in the city, "There's so many things they don't know about Hamilton because the economic explosion that's happening in Hamilton is so quick that a lot of times, people aren't even aware that new businesses have opened," chamber President and CEO Dan Bates said in an introductory video. "They're not aware of what entertainment is available to them, they're not aware of free concerts, they're not aware of things happening at the Fitton Center" for Creative Arts.
The app tells about all of those things. The app can be obtained for free from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
One thing some people pointed out was that some historic monuments and other landmarks, such as the Soldiers, Sailors and Pioneers Monument, were not yet pointed out by the app, Grubb said.
"That's going to be the second phase of the app," she said. "The cool is we can continue to add and build things on it."
"Our first phase, and what was most important, was getting our member businesses pinned, and all of their information in, so we'll continue to evolve the app and add more things," Grubb said.
The chamber is asking all businesses listed to create 20-30-second introductory videos and post them on Youtube and send the chamber a link to those videos so they can be attached to information about their businesses. Many have not yet done so.
Restaurant and store sites on the app will "be even more interesting if everybody takes the opportunity to upload the video, so people get a real feel for what that business is about" Bates said. The app also has connections to business' social-media accounts, websites, as well as directions to them.
