Guidebook content comes to check-in app

Location-based app guide Whatser announced a partnership with Rough Guides December 8, allowing travelers to view the guide brand's content for major European cities.

Whatser's parent company SoGeo confirmed that Rough Guide's reviews of top attractions in Paris, London, Amsterdam and Berlin are now available on the app, alongside reviews from other users.

Whatser is a location-aware mobile app that suggests places to stay, eat, drink or see based on reviews from friends or other users, allowing users to "check in" to destinations much like Loopt or Facebook Places.

However, unlike most of its competitors, it's not choosy about the company it keeps, allowing users to share places using the check-in services from Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook.

Visitors using the app can see locations selected by Rough Guides, along with other users, simply by searching for "spots nearby" or finding Rough Guides' user listing.

In addition, Not to Miss and Authors' Picks selections from the BBC-owned guidebook brand are also available through Whatser.

SoGeo said that Rough Guides' data will be free to use for one year to any user that signs up before December 31 2010, after which a one-time fee of €2.99 per city per year will apply.

A boom in location-based social networking and recommendation services this year has encouraged several high-profile publishers to make their work available on third-party apps.

In February, Foursquare announced a deal with Zagat, while content from National Geographic is available on Gowalla.

http://whatser.com