Lonely Planet unveils clutch of country guide apps

Lonely Planet claims a series of country guide apps are the first of their kind to be made available by an expert travel guide publisher.

Lonely Planet claims a series of country guide apps are the first of their kind to be made available by an expert travel guide publisher.

Italy, Ireland, France, Spain, Australia and Costa Rica are featured in the initial batch of apps for iPhone and iPad.

The apps include information on every region covered in Lonely Planet print guidebooks.

The country guides complement the company’s other travel apps including 70 city guide apps, various audio walking guides, audio phrasebook apps, and offline translator apps.

Offline maps allow users to view the entire country, and then zoom in to a particular region, city, neighbourhood or street. Travellers can pinpoint their location on the map through the GPS capabilities of their iPhone or iPod touch without an internet connection or roaming charges. Users can also flip between the maps and text.

Wireless service vice president Jeremy Kreitler said: “Lonely Planet has established itself as an industry leader in the travel app space with almost 10m downloads of our city guide apps.

“Responding to user feedback and given the popularity of country guidebooks, we are excited to be the first travel guide publisher to extend our product range to include country guide apps”.

The country guide apps cost £6.99 (€7.99) from the App Store.