14 DAY TRIAL // Are you hungry? If the answer is affirmative, you should proceed to the next question. Are you a London resident? If the answer is no, it's safer to avoid reading the next lines. FoodTube is an exciting mashup of Google Maps that displays all the restaurants from London, among photographs, descriptions, user ratings and comments. The service is quite interesting because it is based on the Google's map solution, but with an impressive amount of information such as streets, restaurants, monument and other elements to help you find a place to eat.
Let's take for example Leadenhall Ristorante Italiano, a random restaurant discovered through the numerous places displayed on the map. "It's the shape that strikes you first, a series of tall alcoves in the basement of historic Leadenhall Market in the City of London. Yet it's anything but dark. Smooth white walls, matching table linen and spotlighting create a bright, private space well-suited to confidential high-powered lunches," it is mentioned in the description of the restaurant.
The page also contains information about the rooms (sitting and standing), mentioning: Main Restaurant (100 / 0), Exclusive hire of the restaurant (120 / 150), The Vault (10 / 0), The Vault plus side room (26 / 0). The users' comments and the Full a la carte menu completes an exciting description of a restaurant that really makes me hungry.
I think FoodTube can become one of the most popular services on the Internet if its developers plan to expand it in the entire world. Although this might sound a little impossible, it would be quite easy if the restaurant map allowed users to post their own information about restaurants and other places to eat from all around the world. Of course, it might be difficult to check the accuracy of the information, but Wikipedia is the best example that an open-source service can attract numerous Internet users.