Technologies in the service of travelers: how to make your travel mobile.
Travel technologies, mobile travel, m-tourism… so many buzz now around this, but do we have clear view off all this modern directions?
Let’s try to clearly sort through this.
We can separate several big groups in travel technologies:
- social media use age for travel,
- some web tools, such as online booking services, online travel agencies and so on,
- mobile technologies in travel.
Let’s focus now at the group of mobile travel.
Modern smartphones allow us now to solve a lot of everyday tasks much easier and faster, different app stores abound in various applications, including travel apps.
So how can you make your traveling mobile and convenient?
1. Make all bookings, using your phone.
You can start your mobile traveling from booking tickets for a plane or a train, find and book a room in a hotel, a table for the dinner and don’t forget to book a taxi or may be you’ll prefer to rent a car.
You can use such applications as booking.com, orbitz, travel booker, taxi magic, search & dine, sixt etc. for these needs.
2. Find the cheapest petrol station nearby.
Many people now prefer to rent a car for more independent travel. But when you do this, you don’t know, where you can find the petrol station and what prices are there. Such apps as GasBuddy, Fuel for Less can help traveler with this problem.
3. Don’t get lost, use navigation system.
In any travel it is some kind of must have things, cause you don’t know the city and you need a map, but paper map is really inconvenient. You can always find your location with such apps, you can also choose a point to go and application will direct you and you’ll see signs of museums, restaurants and so on around you. You can use such applications as Google Maps, Navigon, CoPilot etc.
4. Use public transport.
Now it’s much easier to use public transport while traveling, cause you can find a lot of applications with timetable and navigation for it in different cities, for example Urban Step for Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia and others, Catch that Bus UK, NYCMate, TubeMap and many others.
5. Serf a city with mobile guide.
Each stone in a city has a story to tell, there are millions of points of interest everywhere to learn about, but it’s inconvenient to use heavy printed guides in your journey. So app developers now offer a number off guides for your phone. First app I want to mention is Toozla, off course. Our application has several important differences: 24 languages to have an excursion in native language, worldwide coverage ( one app for all countries), a lot of phone platforms available, audio and text versions of guide, opportunity to share audio notes with others. Wikitravel also offers multiple languages support with photos, maps and descriptions off many travel destinations. Triposo offers guides for Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin and Rome. Paris City Guide 2010 offers to learn about 10 beautiful places to see in Paris.
6. Document vacation experiences
You want to make some kind of travel journal? Use your phone: defined your location, add photos and videos of this place, comments and blog posts, make post cards and so on, share your trip with your friends. For these goals use Trip Journal or Travel Memoir.
Well, this 6 groups are the most useful and widely represented in stores in my opinion. Hope they will help you in your journey!
Let’s try to clearly sort through this.
We can separate several big groups in travel technologies:
- social media use age for travel,
- some web tools, such as online booking services, online travel agencies and so on,
- mobile technologies in travel.
Let’s focus now at the group of mobile travel.
Modern smartphones allow us now to solve a lot of everyday tasks much easier and faster, different app stores abound in various applications, including travel apps.
So how can you make your traveling mobile and convenient?
1. Make all bookings, using your phone.
You can start your mobile traveling from booking tickets for a plane or a train, find and book a room in a hotel, a table for the dinner and don’t forget to book a taxi or may be you’ll prefer to rent a car.
You can use such applications as booking.com, orbitz, travel booker, taxi magic, search & dine, sixt etc. for these needs.
2. Find the cheapest petrol station nearby.
Many people now prefer to rent a car for more independent travel. But when you do this, you don’t know, where you can find the petrol station and what prices are there. Such apps as GasBuddy, Fuel for Less can help traveler with this problem.
3. Don’t get lost, use navigation system.
In any travel it is some kind of must have things, cause you don’t know the city and you need a map, but paper map is really inconvenient. You can always find your location with such apps, you can also choose a point to go and application will direct you and you’ll see signs of museums, restaurants and so on around you. You can use such applications as Google Maps, Navigon, CoPilot etc.
4. Use public transport.
Now it’s much easier to use public transport while traveling, cause you can find a lot of applications with timetable and navigation for it in different cities, for example Urban Step for Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia and others, Catch that Bus UK, NYCMate, TubeMap and many others.
5. Serf a city with mobile guide.
Each stone in a city has a story to tell, there are millions of points of interest everywhere to learn about, but it’s inconvenient to use heavy printed guides in your journey. So app developers now offer a number off guides for your phone. First app I want to mention is Toozla, off course. Our application has several important differences: 24 languages to have an excursion in native language, worldwide coverage ( one app for all countries), a lot of phone platforms available, audio and text versions of guide, opportunity to share audio notes with others. Wikitravel also offers multiple languages support with photos, maps and descriptions off many travel destinations. Triposo offers guides for Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin and Rome. Paris City Guide 2010 offers to learn about 10 beautiful places to see in Paris.
6. Document vacation experiences
You want to make some kind of travel journal? Use your phone: defined your location, add photos and videos of this place, comments and blog posts, make post cards and so on, share your trip with your friends. For these goals use Trip Journal or Travel Memoir.
Well, this 6 groups are the most useful and widely represented in stores in my opinion. Hope they will help you in your journey!