Interactive travel guides publisher mTrip has launched travel guides for iPhone and iPod Touch.

Published: 22 Jun 2010

Interactive travel guides publisher mTrip has launched travel guides for iPhone and iPod Touch.

According to mTrip, its offering has several unique features:

• Automated Itinerary Planner - With its exclusive technology, mTrip offers an automated trip planner. Using an advanced algorithm, the guide suggests the most personalised trip to reflect the travellers interests, trip dates, pace preference, opening hours, geographical locations of tourist attractions as well as traveller ratings.
• The guide locates the traveller on the map automatically and displays the most optimal route by subway or foot to any point of interest. The user can also view any point of interest in the area. This is all done offline with no roaming fees.
• Augmented Reality - The traveller can look through the iPhone 4 or 3GS to display the city and all the tourist attractions in the area at a heightened, surreal view. No Internet connection is required.
• Trip Sharing - The traveller can send postcards via Facebook and email to be sent to friends and family. Unlimited sharing is free and no roaming is required.

All expert content is provided by Falk CIS. The user-generated content is provided by travellers, updated daily for free and available directly on iPhone and iPod Touch.

The company has launched nine US and European city guides - London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Barcelona, New York, San Francisco and Chicago. The guides are available in following languages: English, French, German, Spanish and Italian (Italian available for European cities only).

mTrip publishes interactive travel guides for smart phones and portable devices, such as the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment, creating a mixed reality.

According to mTrip, the augmented reality function will allow a user to view the city through iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4.

This function will display your surroundings, creating a mixed reality of the sights you are viewing. The feature will provide details on the sights you point your device at.

Recently, in an interview with EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta, Nigel Pocklington, VP global marketing and strategy, Expedia, mentioned that virtual reality is likely to have a big impact on travellers in the near future.

“Virtual Reality is likely to have a big impact on travellers in the near future. This can be anything from translating a menu using Google Goggles to putting the guidebook to one side and using a virtual reality layer on your phone to picture the street in front of you and get links to restaurant reviews or travel information.” Pocklington said.