Smartphone guide puts Dublin on the map

Available for the iPhone and Android phones at €2.99, the Visit Dublin app was developed by Irish start-up GeoGuides, but it was Dublin Tourism's huge database of digital content that made it possible to complete a project that was only started in March.

The app contains about 7,000 pieces of multimedia content, including text, video and audio. "We are the leading city in the world in our use of Web technology," Frank Magee, Dublin Tourism's boss, told the Irish Times. Using the app, visitors can now wander around Dublin, identifying interesting places. The smartphone's position interacts with the Dublin Tourism database. When the software identifies a pub, for example, the user is given information from opening times to images, audio and video.

Because the data is downloaded on to a smartphone and saved in its memory, there is no need to connect to a mobile network when using the app, unless the user wants daily news about Dublin, which is also part of the service.