Wikitravel

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Wikitravel.png Wikitravel is a project to create an open content, complete, up-to-date, and reliable world-wide travel guide. Although it uses a Wiki model to create the guide and to deliver it on the World Wide Web, the project is also aimed towards production of printed guides. Wikitravel is built in collaboration by Wikitravellers from around the globe. Articles can cover any level of geographic specificity, from continents to districts of a city. These are logically connected in a hierarchy, by specifying that the location covered in one article "is in" the larger location described by another.

Wikitravel was started in July of 2003, inspired in part by Wikipedia. [1] The project uses the MediaWiki software, which is also used by the Wikipedia. However, Wikitravel is not a Wikimedia project, and unlike Wikipedia it uses the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license rather than the GNU Free Documentation License. Among other things, this more easily allows individuals, tourism agencies, etc. to make free reprints of individual pages. Although both Wikipedia and Wikitravel are free content resources, because of the incompatible licenses, content cannot be freely copied between them. Wikitravel's different objectives have also resulted in different policies and content guidelines.

Wikitravel is a multilingual project available in ten languages, with each language-specific project developed independently. In order of launch:

On 23 December, 2005, the total count of articles – with varying levels of completeness – across all language versions reached 10,000. [11]

On 20 April, 2006, Wikitravel announced that it and World66 have been acquired by Internet Brands.<ref>{{cite press release

| publisher = Internet Brands
|         date = 20 April, 2006
|        title = Internet Brands Acquires Wikitravel And World66 Online Travel Guides
|          url = http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=27587&script=410&layout=-6&item_id=845378
}}

</ref> Wikitravel will continue to focus on collaborative, objective guides, while World66 will focus more personal experience and reviews.

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