SAN FRANCISCO -- Social photo apps have ridden a wave of consumer interest but few have emerged for more than just wasting some time.

Skedadel is an app that brings a utilitarian sense of purpose to the willy-nilly world of social photo apps. Launching today, Skedadel's photo app serves up Instagram images from restaurants, bars, cafes and other destinations. Think of it as Instagram organized into your local guide.

Startup Skedadel is the brainchild of Seattle-based iOS developer and entrepreneur Peter Boctor and a silent partner. Skedadel is self-funded.

"The realization was that when we put photos in front of people or in front of ourselves it was so much more inspiring about a place and so much more expressive of the feeling of what the place was about -- what kind of people hang out there, what kind of food is there? It's a whole different vibe " says Boctor, who left startup Zaarly, based in San Francisco, last year to focus on Skedadel.

Skedadel allows its users to search for what's nearby or to pick a city around the world. People are quickly shown Images geo-tagged from Instagram that are then neatly organized into categories of food, coffee, sights, nightlife, shopping or arts.

Given people's shutterbug itch to shoot food and outings on Instagram, Skedadel is loaded with images from venues. But Skedadel also sports an algorithm that relies on the number of Instagram photos from a given place mingled with Foursquare and other data points to rank and score places.

Those using Skedadel can follow other members using the app and save places into their favorites so that they can keep track of people and places. Places are shown on a map along with the user's current location from the spot. Members have the option to share places via email, text message,Twitter and Facebook.

The duo behind Skedadel are anxiously optimistic about the app's prospects and where it may take their future should it take off to become the next sensation.

Skedadel is available today on Apple's App Store.

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