Nokia (News - Alert) has teamed up with Lonely Planet, a global travel information company, to distribute travel information via Nokia Maps.

 

Nokia Maps and Lonely Planet together provide information about most of world’s popular tourist locations. Travel guides from Lonely Planet help travelers to find eateries, shops and lodging, in addition to providing detailed description of popular sights and nightlife for each destination.

 

Nokia Maps 2.0 uses vector maps provided by Navteq and TeleAtlas. These maps now cover more than 200 countries, and more than 70 of them are navigable. Maps can be downloaded over the air directly to selected devices or by using the Nokia Map Loader on a PC. Nokia offers Nokia Maps 2.0 and the Map Loader as a free service to select devices.

 

Lonely Planet consists of a team of writers, researchers and photographers who have produced around 500 travel books and digital guides and have contributed for a Web site, wireless applications and television programs0 — all intended to provide information for travelers.

 

"Lonely Planet is a well known brand amongst travelers and stands for adventure and editorial independence," said Maximilian Schierstadt, head of media partnerships at Nokia’s context based services division, in a statement. "We are very excited to offer their expert local recommendations and itineraries to our Nokia Maps consumers, which will allow Nokia to continue to innovate and enable compelling location aware experiences."

 

"This is a genuinely transformational deal, which makes Lonely Planet content readily available regardless of time or place,” said Stephen Palmer, CEO, Lonely Planet Publications, in a statement. “It will help all those questions which travelers frequently have on the road such as 'What should I explore today' or 'where should I go for dinner tonight?' Together with Nokia we will help more travelers connect profoundly with their world, every day."

 

Travelers can purchase and download the city guides from the Guides section in the Extras menu for €7.99 (about $11.72).