Hi all,
Lonely Planet is making their travel guide apps for 13 cities free for
download at the iTunes App Store through today (April 22, 2010). This
is meant for all the travelers who have been stranded in cities due to
flight restrictions on air traffic as a consequence of the volcanic
ash from the recent Iceland eruptions. These guides are normally $10
to $15 each, and the App Store links to them can be found either at
the Lonely Planet blog page:
• "Free iPhone Guides for Stranded Travelers" (Lonely Planet Blog)
http://inside-digital.blog.lonelyplanet.com/2010/04/19/lp-volcano-rescue/
or at the TUAW web page announcing this freebie:
• "Lonely Planet giving away free iPhone guides in honor of
Eyjafjallajökull messing with Europe" (TUAW)
http://i.tuaw.com/2010/04/19/lonely-planet-giving-away-free-iphone-guides-in-honor-of-eyjafja/
They're mostly accessible, with the exception of the map interface,
since the bulk of the content is straight text and content list views,
and you open the app up in the table of contents with the button for
"The Book" selected at the bottom left of the page. Nearly all the
items are links that are directly selectable with a double tap to
navigate to the indicated section of the book. There are a few
entries that are only headers for the next listed entries (e.g.
"Background"). In the main text the unlabeled buttons at the bottom of
the page are for previous page (button at bottom left corner) and next
page (button at bottom right corner), and the unlabeled buttons
between them at the bottom of the page are apparently for adjusting
the text fonts to smaller or larger letters. To move back to the
table of contents, double tap the "Back" button at the top right of
the page. Images interspersed throughout the text have labeled
captions that can be read out.
The table of contents page that you reach on opening the app has five
buttons at the bottom. As noted, "The Book" at the bottom left,
simply points to the Table of Contents. The next button "Nearby"
takes you to a list of points of interest (restaurants, landmarks,
shops, etc.) listed by distance from your location (if you allow the
app to check for your current locations -- I didn't, for the purpose
of review, since I'm not in any of these cities). The guide
descriptions give name, category (e.g. restaurant by cuisine type and
expense rating according to number of dollar signs, cabernet, bar,
etc.), address, distance, telephone number (double tapping lets you
add number to contacts), hours, and location (e.g. by area or public
transportation stop), and a short review paragraph. They're clearly
using icons to represent some of these categories, since as you flick
through you'll hear "image" just before each of these kinds of
information entries. Again, there are four unlabeled buttons at the
bottom of each point of interest page, and the button at the bottom
left will take you to the previous point of interest in the list
(ordered by distance from your current location) and the one at the
bottom right takes you to the next listed point of interest. Here,
the center two unlabeled buttons perform different functions:
unlabeled button number 2 is for "Save to Favorites"; unlabeled button
number 3 accesses a map that VoiceOver cannot navigate. (There's a
"locate" button at the top right that brings up a warning message that
tells you that choosing this option means they won't be able to find
you on the map.) Using a VoiceOver pass-through gesture (double tap
and hold) doesn't produce results.
Using the "Back" button, takes you back to the list of point-of-
interest for the selected "Nearby" button (number 2 of 5 at the
bottom). Button number 3, the "Map" button. Again, as with the
points of interest under the "Nearby" entry, I was unable to get the
map interface to work with VoiceOver. If you toggle VoiceOver off,
and tap on the screen, you might hit a point of interest and bring up
its entry, but the interface just doesn't give you any information
about when you're near an item. A "Filter" button at the top left of
the screen lets you turn off (or turn on again) switches for the
different point-of-interest categories of the places to eat, sights,
entertainment, shopping, or places to stay, and pressing the "Done"
button returns you to the (inaccessible) map.
Button number 4, the "Search" button, lets you double tap in the
search field at the top of the page to bring up a virtual keyboard and
type in your search terms. When you're done typing, double tap the
"search" button at the bottom right of the screen, just beside the
space bar. If there are matches, they'll show up below the search text
box, and you can either move your finger down the list or flick to
hear the next entries announced. Double tapping a selection takes you
to the point-of-interest description page, with address, hours, etc.
or, in some cases, the related description section in the guide text.
If you reach the point-of-interest page, the two unlabeled buttons at
the bottom are for "Save to Favorites" and for the inaccessible map
page. (Just double tap the "Back" button at the top left if you're
taken to the map page and need to get out). As before, the text page
buttons allow you to read previous entries (unlabeled button at bottom
left) or next entries (unlabeled button at bottom right), or adjust
font sizes larger or smaller.
Finally, button number 5, the "More" button at the bottom right, takes
you to a list with two further entries: "Images" and "Favorites". The
"Images" link will take you to a page of buttons with no text. Double
tapping any of these displays the image. The page may have a caption
and a number at the top (e.g. "Image Gallery" 16 of 53) and there are
unlabeled buttons at the bottom to move to previous and next images.
If you get into this area, just double tap the button at the top left
(where you usually have the "Back" button) to go back to the previous
level, until you return to the list on the "More" page. The second
entry, "Favorites" will contain a list of any points-of-interest pages
you have selected with "Save to Favorites".
Hope this is of interest, since we don't usually get to check the
accessibility of paid travel guide apps. It seems quite feasible to
use the favorites you save in the travel app and just put them into an
app like the free "AroundMe" app and use it's Maps interface to
navigate. Unfortunately, adding a point-of-interest to your contacts
only seems to add the telephone number, although I'm only using an
iPod Touch, so an iPhone user's experience might be different.
Another comment: There's a free Lonely Planet Travel Guides App apart
from the 13 City Guides mentioned above.
• Lonely Planet Travel Guides (free with San Francisco City Guide and
Mexican Spanish Audio Phrasebook)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lonely-planet-travel-guides/id317165182?mt=8
This is meant to be both a sample of the format of their city guides
and phrasebooks, as well as an umbrella application for in-app
purchases of their other guides (including the City Guides). The
advantage of this format is that it acts as a kind of folder
structure: instead of 13 separate city guides, you first access the
Lonely Planet Guide apps that acts as an umbrella, and then you find
the entry for the specific guide that you bought. The issue here is
that the App Store's minimum charge for an in-app purchase is $0.99,
so if you want to get the 13 "free" city guides through in-app
purchase under this umbrella app for the Lonely Planet Guides, you'd
have to buy them each at $0.99 today. In any case, you might also
want to check out this app. (It's free status doesn't expire today.)
Cheers,
Esther
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