Lonely Planet launches audio walking tours in London

This is a cool new feature in travel apps that I'd like to see a lot more of: Lonely Planet has released some walking audio tours as apps on the App Store. Unfortunately, all of the tours so far are just based in London, but the apps will walk you around some of London's most interesting areas, including Covent Garden and the West End, bringing along audio reviews and insight from Lonely Planet's editors and experts. The apps will work offline (for tourists traveling abroad), but they're also location aware, so you can get the audio read out to you when you're in the right place as well.

I love this idea -- I am a big fan of walking tours, and I think there's a lot of potential still unexplored in terms of connecting up information with users of connected smartphones. We've seen some interesting AR applications already along these lines, but I'd like to see even more ways to use your iPhone to really explore and learn more about the world around you. Hopefully Lonely Planet will get these tours rolling elsewhere soon.

Right now, the apps are US$1.99, half off the usual price, for a launch sale.