Here's the formal release:

Metia creates a ‘Rough Guide to the World’ web site for leading travel publisher

·         Interactive site uses Windows Internet Explorer 9, HTML5 and Flickr to allow travellers to participate, contribute and share their unique travel experiences online

·         Global launch of Windows Internet Explorer 9 showcases the Rough Guide to the World

September 16^th 2010 – Metia today announced the launch of the ‘Rough Guide to the World’, an interactive web site designed and developed for leading travel publisher Rough Guides. The new site, selected as a showcase for both the Global and UK Microsoft Corp. launch of Windows Internet Explorer 9, allows visitors to browse hundreds of travel experiences from Rough Guides’ inspirational book, Make the Most of Your Time on Earth.  Rough Guides is challenging travellers to help complete this ‘Rough Guide to the World’ by contributing images of their own experiences via Flickr.

The site uses the latest web technologies available in Windows Internet Explorer 9, the latest version of the web’s most used browser, including support for HTML5 (the latest mark-up language for the web), to deliver a faster and more immersive experience for users.  In addition, the site integrates with the Flickr photo sharing service through its API to serve geo-tagged images and is hosted on the Windows Azure platform.

Visitors to the site use a compass control to navigate an interactive map of the world and explore destinations based on their favourite activities from extreme sports to high art.  Search functionality allows users to display image sets (including their own Flickr photos) as a layer on the map. 

Users can build a list of their favourite experiences, drawn from the Rough Guides book, Make the Most of Your Time on Earth, and share them with friends using Facebook, Twitter or email. 

Steve Ellis, CEO, Metia, says: “All organisations are seeking to create rich interactive experiences that engage their audiences. Rough Guides has a great brand and loyal customers, who are united by a mutual commitment to authentic travel experiences. Our brief was to use the very best of new technology and popular web services to create an interactive experience that would resonate for Rough Guides’ readership and other like-minded travellers.”

Peter Buckley, Digital Publisher, Rough Guides, says, “It has been genuinely exciting to work on this project at such a pivotal moment in the evolution of web functionality and design. New technologies are now allowing web creatives to define the way we use the Internet, rather than fitting design around clunky web page structures.”

Buckley continues: “The Rough Guide to the World brings together the best of new web technologies, standards and services with the use of Internet Explorer 9, HTML5 and the Flickr API.  Effectively, these and other technologies offer a palette of tools through which we can now engineer amazing web experiences.”

“With Windows Internet Explorer 9, companies like Metia can extend the power of Windows into their websites and turn them into fast and interactive applications that are just as familiar as other Windows software-based applications,” said Dean Hachamovitch, corporate vice president for Windows Internet Explorer at Microsoft.

      Key Facts

·         The site includes over 500 experiences from the Rough Guides’ Make the Most of Your Time on Earth book

·         The map is based on the Mercator Projection of the World

·         At its starting point, the map displays approximately 600 tiles.  At this zoom level each tile equals approximately 700km²

·         At its highest magnification, the map of the world is composed of more than 90,000 individual tiles, of which 1,800 are in view at any one time.  At this zoom level each tile represents a 40km² area.

·         The site supports several IE9 specific features including Favicon pinning and jump lists.

Technology

Windows Azure platform

·         Microsoft SQL Azure (using spatial queries)

·         Flickr API

·         Bit.ly API

·         CSS 3 (W3C Validated)

o   Box shadows

o   RGBA colours

·         HTML 5

o   Canvas tag

o   SVG (W3C Validated)

o   WOFF (Web Open Font Format)

o   Semantic Structure

 Notes for Editors
You can view the experience at http://makethemost.roughguides.com.

The Rough Guide experience site will be showcased within the HTML5 section of Internet Explorer 9 Microsoft, please see the link www.thebeautyoftheweb.com

The site is best experienced using Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 – which can be downloaded free – but also works with other modern browsers which use HTML5 standards. HTML5 consists of a series of web standards, which enable modern browsers to provide more interactivity and a richer user experience without the need for plug-in technology.

Experiences are from Make The Most Of Your Time on Earth, 2^nd Edition, Published 1^st September 2010, ISBN: 9781848365247, $29.99.

About Metia

Metia is a digital marketing agency with annual revenues of £16 million and operations in London, New York, Seattle, Singapore and Sydney. Employing over 230 professionals, Metia delivers experiences, solutions, services and tools that are focused, smart and repeatable – and that generate measurable value.

For more information: www.metia.com

Media contact:

Melanie Hesketh, Metia

+44 203 100 3584

melanie.hesketh@metia.com

About Rough Guides

Rough Guides is a leading travel content provider with more than 700 travel guides, gift-books, maps, phrasebooks, bespoke custom publishing guides and digital products, including eBooks and mobile applications. From country guidebooks to city guides and inspirational travel specials to Round the World planners, there’s a Rough Guide to suit everyone with accurate, up-to-date information and informed, contemporary writing. Make The Most Of Your Time On Earth™

For more information visit: www.roughguides.com

Media Contact:

Rachel Sprackett, Rough Guides

press@roughguides.com