NileGuide

NileGuide FOR TRAVELERS, BY LOCALS 2008,The Nile Project, San Francisco, Viewed 8 May 2011 <http://www.nileguide.com/destination/melbourne>

NileGuide is an online travel directory where you can organise accommodation, hotels, restaurants, attractions and so on. It sources information from travel guides such as Frommers, Yahoo! Travel and also utilises travel advice from locals (although it seems only 21 locals from Melbourne have answered questions). It is possible to research your travel and compare accommodation and restaurants through reviews and price. NileGuide lets you create an itinerary with maps and information about your trip which you can print or send to friends and family or collaborate with them on. There is also an Iphone application that you can synchronise with the website.

The Restaurants tab lets you access their top picks which are a number of top 10 themed lists such as the top 10 cheap restaurants or the top 10 Italian resturants. Each restaurant is rated by a 5 star rating system, and some restaurant reviews also have more reviews sourced from trip advisor. I prefer the restaurants search tab in which you can specify a number of categories such as nationality of cuisine, cost, distance, neighbourhood, and other such matters as wether the resturant is romantic or kid friendly. It is possible to choose the restaurants you like and make a list of them and a map. The site is quite straight forward to navigate and very it is very easy to find restaurants in the cuisine and price range that you would like. T.N.

True Local

True local 2010, News Limited, Sydney, viewed 1 May 2011, <http://www.truelocal.com.au/>

True local is an online directory for Australian businesses where you are able to search for any type of business in your local area. The basic search allows you to enter a name or type of business and a location. In terms of searching for restaurants it is as simple as entering a type of restaurant and location and the search results appear with a phone number, a link to directions and in some cases a review if it is available. The site also allows members to write a review, obtain quotes and prices from a range of local businesses and you are also able to post a project for free so businesses can then offer you competitive quotes. Other features include browsing for businesses by location, name and category, getting directions and your business centre where users can login or list their business.  The website is arranged in an orderly way with row of horizontal links to the above information. S.S.