Are apps the future of travel guides?

Wednesday 04 August

Lonely Planet’s bid for world domination continues today, with news just in that it’s launching a series of augmented reality apps for Android handsets.

This follows on from yesterday’s news on a series of Lonely Planet Discovery iPad interactive guides, complete with GPS map references with embedded POIs, bookmarking and note-making facilities and hyperlinks to hotels and restaurants etc.

The Android “Compass” app explores the augmented reality route further, by pinpointing your exact location via GPS, and then allowing you to use your handset’s camera function to display local points of interest, hotels, bars and amenities.

So if you find yourself dropped into a new city, all you have to do is point your phone at it to find out just what’s near you. What’s more, the content can be used offline (with the exception of maps) so you can avoid some hefty roaming fees. There are 25 Compass Android Guides covering the popular tourist destinations, including Barcelona, New York and Istanbul and are available for $4.99 on Android Market.

Travel guides in app form seems like the ideal marriage of technology and content – you can use your GPS and mapping to find POIs, use the camera to overlay augmented reality information and use your whizzy touchscreen to flick through information, bookmark and make your own notes.

Could the guidebook be dead in its current form in a couple of years? Have you tried any travel apps? What did you think? Let us know below…