Toozla Releases Beta Version Of Audio Guide Based On Wikipedia

May 7, 2010 - PRLog -- Toozla LLC has released a beta version of its audio guide based on Wikipedia – called Wikistream. Some 171,000 of the entries in the English-language version of Wikipedia are linked to precise coordinates on the surface of the Earth. The Toozla service not only provides travellers with the entries relevant to their location, but also converts them to speech.

This service is made possible by a number of state-of-the-art technologies, but from the tourist’s point of view it couldn’t be simpler – all they need to do is launch the application on their smartphone and then put the phone in their pocket. The rest is handled automatically. Applications based on users’ locations are already quite a popular phenomenon. But almost all of them involve the user’s current location being displayed on a map. Toozla, on the other hand, decided that a tiny map on the user’s mobile screen – particularly on sunny days – would only distract from the pleasure of taking in the sights. After all, telephones are designed for talking and listening, not reading! It seemed to make more sense to let Wikipedia talk to travellers about the sights around them.

The beta version of the new wiki-guide is available in English. Toozla plan to add several more of the world’s most widely-spoken languages over the next few months.

“We have now incorporated the vast store of knowledge offered by Wikipedia into our own global project,” says Alexei Cherenkov, CEO of Toozla. “A free mobile guide that doesn’t weigh anything is simply a dream for travellers everywhere.”

The new Wikipedia-based guide is the latest in a range of “streams” offered as part of the Toozla service. Other streams currently available include a weather service, professionally-produced multilingual audio guides for the world’s most popular tourist cities, a system that allows travellers to instantly add their own audio comments, and a platform that individuals and companies can use to create their own audio guides and GPS games. So-called “augmented reality” systems like Toozla are becoming increasingly popular worldwide. This is thanks largely to the relevant technology becoming available; demand for location-based systems of this kind has always existed. Toozla makes active use of cloud computing technologies, which significantly reduce the burden placed on mobile devices, and make Toozla a multi-platform service.

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About Toozla:
Toozla is the Russian technological company. Toozla develops the global multilingual project for independent travellers, tourists, city gamers, the curious people, loving to travel and sightseeing.

Toozla is the leader in technology of the augmented reality for the tourist market. The Toozla service revolutionises the relationship between a traveller and a tourist destination. Toozla is the interactive mobile audio-guide accessible all over the world from a mobile phone of any tourist. Details about the company can be found at http://www.toozla.com