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.

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Source: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mobile/apple/audio.php

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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...

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Steve McInnes

Hi iaintgoingthere,

I'm the Audio Walking Tour Product Manager here at Lonely Planet.

Regarding international roaming charges.
There is no need worry about expensive roaming charges. As with our iOS City Guide product range our Audio Walking Tours are specifically designed to work without any network connection. We have detailed off-line maps stored in the app, as is the audio and point of interest information.

The only possible data charge is from Assisted GPS, which is a built in iPhone feature (http://artoftheiphone.com/2008/06/10/iphone-3g-what-is-assisted-gps/). However this is not required for the app to work. If you want to ensure you're not hit with any roaming charges on your iPhone while abroad turn off "Data roaming" under Settings>General>Network. Or you can turn on flight mode, but this will disable the locate me feature.

Hope this helps.

Steve

February 24 2011 at 10:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

iaintgoingthere

Is it really worth it? Don't forget that you may have to pay for the international internet charges. The last time I checked AT&T, they want a lot of money for a small amount of data.

February 20 2011 at 7:53 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Great idea...that's why we put one together for the Minneapolis skyway system at www.skywaytwincities.com

February 19 2011 at 3:35 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Did anyone else immediately think of Peter Griffin wishing for his own theme music?

"Riding on the bus, Riding on the bus..."

February 18 2011 at 11:37 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Charli

Irks me a little that they didn't just make these a feature in their guide book apps. They could likely still charge for them in app.

February 18 2011 at 10:24 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Lani

Rick Steves has been making his audio tours available for years. We used his tour of Paris on our iPod and it worked beautifully!

February 18 2011 at 9:49 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Justin

I too would love to see this expanded to cities all over the world. I think it would be a lot of fun, and certainly a way to enjoy the beauty of some of these sites without burying my nose in a guidebook.

February 18 2011 at 9:24 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Justin's comment

Steve McInnes

Justin, glad you like the idea. Lookout for Lonely Planet's Paris walking tours coming soon!

February 25 2011 at 12:07 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply