You don't need me to tell you that in this wide world of web, some sites are very useful for travel planning, while many are not. And some are useful only in a specific context, say, bus schedules of Hungary.
As a starting point, I have considered listing two type of travel sites. The first is web sites of major travel guide publishers (Lonely Planet, Frommers, Fodors, ...). The second is travel sites whose information is contributed by travellers like you and me (Virtual Tourist, Trip Advisor, ...)
Unfortunately, I soon came to the conclusion that it was too hard a task and I should concentrate on my own travel planning.
You may wonder then, what made me want to write this blog entry? Well, after reading about the debates on Encyclopedia Britannica vs. Wikipedia.
In very simple terms, entries in Encyclopedia Britannica are written by experts in the respective subjects in a closed editorial system, whereas those in Wikipedia can be contributed and subsequently edited by anybody. You pay to get full access to Encyclopedia Britannica, while Wikipedia is free.
So, are Wikipedia entries accurate and trustworthy? There had been examples which suggest they are not. Then Nature magazine compared selected science entries from these two, and concluded that Wikipedia is almost as accurate as the other. Encyclopedia Britannica rebuked this somewhat astonishing finding.
Of course, I am not in a position to add anything meaningful to this debate. But it does remind of one thing in relation to travel websites: are contributory sites as good as expert sites?
Lonely Planet, Frommers and Fodors are like Encyclopedia Britannica. Their travel guides are written by "experts". Virtual Tourist and Trip Advisor are like Wikipedia. They invite contributions from ordinary travellers. Of course, the websites of the major travel guide publishers provide free access (although some publishers are more generous than others in terms of reproducing printed materials on the web). Moreover, all these websites offer contributive elements, mainly by offering a travel forum as part of the overall web setup.
But Virtual Tourist and Trip Advisor are not really Wikipedia-type travel sites either. The travel information is categorised but not organised in a highly structured way. For example, while Trip Advisor may have a sub-forum on Vienna, the question of how to go from the airport to downtown area may appear in any number of entries. Another example is that under, say, Prague Castle, Virtual Tourist may have dozen of contributions, each talking about more or less the same things. A true Wikipedia-type travel site should have the highly structured format of a printed travel guide.
OK, after writing so much, the question I really want to ask is, are there good Wikipedia-type travel sites on the web? I have not come across any. If there is indeed one, then it probably would be called Wikitravel, and it does exist! It may take me some time to check whether this one with the most obvious name is a good one or not. In the mean time, can anybody suggest similar ones? Thanks in advance.
maybe i would. but generally speaking i don't like to write travelogues. i am also not knowledgeable enough to offer tips to other travellers.
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