Open Travel Culture
Jani Patokallio
[email protected]
The Idea
Travelers best information source is other travelers.
-- Evan Prodromou,
founder of Wikitravel
Wikitravel.org
"Wikipedia meets Lonely Planet"
Launched in July 2003
Almost 50,000 articles in 20 languages
Over 20,000 in English version alone
10,000+ edits/week
Webby Award for Travel in 2007
CC Attribution-ShareAlike license
Wikitravel Press
We turn Wikitravel the website into printed Wikitravel
guidebooks
Addresses an obvious need
Internet is good, but sometimes paper is better
Current guides are 3-10 years out of date
Sold online at Amazon.com
Ordinary bookstores are too slow for us!
Flow betweenwebsite andbook:
1) Edit guide2) Publish guide3) Deliver guide4) Read guide5)
Edit guide...
Technological challenges
How can something as fluid and unpredictable as a Wiki can be
turned into a professional-grade guidebook?
Wiki to print
Why not just export HTML to PDF?
Because...
Single column text: waste of space
Poor image handling: a thumbnailed map is useless
No cross-referencing: a printed hyperlink is useless
No table of contents or index: needed when you can't hit CTRL-F
for Find
Solution: Yucca
Wiki to TeX to PDF engine
TeX: Professional DTP engine
Hairy syntax, but extremely powerful, and allows automated
layout
Maps
Having maps is a nice little bonus for Wikitravel.org
articles...
Plenty of other maps online
But maps are absolutely necessary for a printed travel guide
Difficult/tedious to draw by hand
Major obstacle to finding editors
OpenStreetMap to the rescue!
Vast treasure trove of
detailed, CC-licensed
map data
Output customized
with XML "style sheet"
Cross-referenced with listings
Automatic numbering
Listing index boxes
OSM v2:
Helsinki, Finland
Commercial challenges
Why is Wikitravel better than Let's Rough Planet, and can I
trust what's inside?
Up to date
travel information
Coup in Thailand?
Missile test in North Korea?
Colonial hotel now a strip mall?
Hip restaurant turned into furniture showroom?
...not according to your
Let's Rough Planet...
Why?
Information in a normal guidebook can easily be over 5 years
old
"Editions" are when it's sold, not when it's compiled
Time lag of up to a year between research and compiling
Only a small part is actually revised in each edition
Most guidebooks (esp. off the beaten track) revised only once
every few years
Editorial process
Raw data from Wikitravel community
Incredible coverage and depth of knowledge
Over 10,000 edits weekly
Hand-picked editors in charge of books
Intimately familiar with destination
Receive a royalty on sales
Print on demand
Revisions every month
Soon: Immediate prints of live data
Printed on demand at a press near you
Under 24 hours from order to print at Amazon
Sample order
Mon: Place your order
Wed: Your order ships
Fri: Your order arrives
(target for regular shipping in continental US,
no guarantees unless you order as expedited
and may take longer elsewhere)
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Future plans
Roll-your-own guides
Pick your places, we print your book
How fresh do you want it?
Absolutely uncensored,
latest patrolled version, or
human-edited
We're hiring!
Looking for a Kuala Lumpur guide editor
Content already in decent shape
Maps can be taken from OSM
Sign up for a 12-month contract (renewable)
Royalties paid for every book sold
Option to distribute locally
Other guides for Malaysia, Thailand etc also possible - ask!
The Idea
map, search, filter and share your flights and travels with
friends or the entire world
In a nutshell
First open-source travel mapping application
Launched January 2009
"Web 2.0" interface
Map changes in realtime
Share your map with friends
On Facebook as well
CSV/KML import/export
Aviation data
Commercial airport databases cost >US$1000
The OpenFlights airport and airline DBs are free!
As of Jan 2009:
5391 airports
5871 airlines
Thank you!
Click to edit the title text format
