You probably know the feeling. You’re out in the world, laptop in tow, with some time to spare between appointments. Or maybe you’re on vacation in an unfamiliar city and need a quiet spot where you can get a bit of work done — preferably somewhere with fast wifi, accessible power outlets and good coffee. But if you don’t know the neighbourhood, it can be hard to find a place that checks all the boxes.
We recently ran across an app that might help.
Work Hard Anywhere is an iOS app that maps laptop-friendly workspaces such as coffee shops, libraries and co-working spaces. The app depends on users to rate various aspects of the locations on the map — from wifi speed, to parking, to noisiness and price.
Work Hard Anywhere’s co-founder and CEO Benson Chou told Story Board via email this week that although most of their users are concentrated in the U.S., Canadian freelancers have been helping to map workspaces north of the border as well.
“Besides the US, Canada is certainly one of the more active countries with more than 500 locations scouted by the creatives there,” he says.
A quick scan of the maps of several Canadian cities reveals that newer coffee shops and co-working spaces haven’t yet been added. But there’s enough information there already — especially in larger cities — to make it a useful tool. And the more users get on board, the better the maps will get.
Chou says since the app launched last year it’s had good response from freelancers who’ve used it to find good places to work when they were in a hurry. Others, he says, have used it to find new places to work right in their own neighbourhoods.
The team has had several requests for an Android app, which is currently in development. There’s no release date yet for the Android version (“We’re a bootstrapped startup so we’re inching forward as fast as we can,” says Chou) but you can follow @WHAnywhere on Twitter for updates.