Tuscany+ augmented reality free iphone app

The future of traveling is technological, and it’s here in Tuscany. The region of Tuscany has just released an iphone application that uses augmented reality technology. When you point your iphone’s camera at any scene in Tuscany, overlays information about monuments, accomodation, food, and nightlife.

The application is made in Italy by the super cool company H-art. And did I mention – it’s FREE (on the app store of course). Not just for the first two weeks, either.

As a member of Tuscany’s social media team and employee of H-art, I have privileged access to this information (and have had the app on my phone for a while) but could only let it out now! Trust me it was hard to keep the secret, being the geek that I am. The application is similar to Around Me but has the added advantage of drawing from existing sources of information about monuments (from churches to palazzi). This information comes from wikipedia as well as from the editorial staff of turismo.intoscana, so it’s pretty complete. This means that you no longer have to buy a guidebook that has detailed information about every little thing. It also helps with those moments when you end up somewhere and wonder “what is that building?” or “I swear I have seen that before!”.

The information about restaurants and hotels includes reviews taken from social media, so it’s constantly changing and up to date. This information comes from Google Local so you can of course add your own reviews. The app is also social because you can share anything immediately on facebook, as well as create your own local favourites list.

A minor critique: Of course, no app is perfect – this one is only as good as the iphone’s compass and satellite positioning, so sometimes you have to spin around a bit before you get the right information – a building might be indicated about 60 degrees to one direction or the other. In map mode this works better.