Wikitravel Press Blog

Here’s a new guide that’s close to my heart: my old hometown Helsinki, which also covers a few favorite of my favorite spots nearby, including Nuuksio National Park and the delightful little town of Porvoo, soon to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Finnish phrasebook also comes in handy for amusing the natives and scaring everybody else (kalastajamaisuudettomuudellansakaan, anyone?) — but don’t worry, virtually everybody in Helsinki speaks English.

The Porvoo chapter is available as a free download, while the printed book is now available in our online store. Tsekkaa jos et usko!

The choice of destinations covered by our just-released guide, Cairo and Alexandria, are no coincidence: Alexandria will be hosting the Wikimania 2008 conference on July 17-19, and Wikitravel Press is proud to the official guidebook of the conference. We’ll be printing a special edition just for the conference and presenting conference attendees with free copies (while supplies last, so show up early!). Not only is the guidebook a great demonstration of how Mediawiki technology and an enthusiastic community can combine to create wonderful things, but we’re sure that the nexus of Wikimaniacs at the conference will propel the content of the guidebook to new heights. A special thanks to Delphine Ménard and the Mediawiki Foundation for their support.

If you’re not going to the conference, or you are going and want to read up a little before you go (always a good idea), you can order the Wikitravel Guide to Cairo and Alexandria online through our bookstore. The guide also covers the Egyptian capital Cairo, with a special supplement on the Pyramids at Giza, and includes both an Egyptian Arabic phrasebook as well as a detailed reference section of traveling to and around Egypt.

I’ll be speaking at State of the Map (Limerick, Ireland, July 12-13) this summer, and I had the chance to chat with Nick Black from OpenStreetMap about what we’re doing at Wikitravel Press and how we’re using OSM data in our books. Check it out:

Interview with Jani Patokallio, Wikitravel Press

We’re all proud at WTP headquarters about our announcement that Wikitravel Press has published a Paris guidebook. Paris has been one of our most important locations in Wikitravel for years, and it’s good to get a print version available from Wikitravel Press.

Of special interest for the Paris guide is its use of OpenStreetMap geodata to create the guidebook maps. Previously, Wikitravel maps have either been hand-drawn or borrowed from other, inconsistent Open Content sources. The move up to OSM data has meant we have a considerably better-looking, more consistent map style.

Special kudos to Mark Jaroski, who edited the Paris guide, and to all the Wikitravellers who’ve put time and effort into making this a world-class reference book. And of course great work, Jani, in getting this guide out.

You can order the Wikitravel Guide to Paris online through our bookstore.