Polish Guide now available for mobile devices

Fans travelling to UEFA EURO 2012 can now carry an abundance of information on co-hosts Poland around with them thanks to the launch of the Polish Guide mobile app for mobile phones and smartphones.

The Polish Guide has been available free of charge since December 2011, when it went live shortly after the UEFA EURO 2012 group draw in Kyiv. Now available for mobile devices, it is the first such product ever offered at an international sports event anywhere in the world, providing tourists and fans with a free one-stop source of information about finals co-hosts Poland – including SMS alerts, a route planner, maps, travel times, places worth seeing, an electronic calendar and much more. And all in seven languages.

The service has been designed to work on popular smartphone platforms iOS and Android, and smartphone owners can now access it for free via the App Store and Google Play. For mobile phone users, meanwhile, a lighter version of the service has been created to work on all types of devices.

"The application may be used online and offline with all its features," said Wojciech Folejewski, chief operating officer of Polish government agency PL.2012. "It's a perfect solution for users – i.e. foreign tourists and football supporters who will start to travel around Poland in a few days.

"They can access the guide without having to connect their smartphones to the internet, thus saving on roaming costs during EURO 2012 in Poland. Only after they have given their consent will they be able to access the online content, such as, for example, live scores and match results or detailed maps of the whole country. In the offline mode, detailed maps of four Polish host cities are available."

Visitors can also be kept up to date without any activity on their part thanks to SMS alerts. These will inform users of any developments that require their immediate attention, such as information on changed traffic organisation plans or road accidents affecting traffic conditions. Meanwhile, the guide's 'Road Transport' tab, prepared in collaboration with the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways, gives information on the best routes to take between cities, travel times and all the best sights to take in along the way.

In addition, the Polish Guide boasts detailed information on the base camps of the 13 national teams stationed in Poland – for example, the hotels they are staying in, their training sites, when they will be holding open training sessions for the public and the conditions for attending those events. Moreover, the guide provides extensive information on the fan zones in each of the host cities, complete with maps of the zones, access routes, plus attractions and scheduled events.

The guide features a new 'My Trip' section as well, which, according to Mr Folejewski, is "a specially designed electronic calendar, which enables visitors to accurately and conveniently plan their stay in Poland during EURO 2012. 'My Trip' is integrated with other information provided by the website, so that visitors may, for example, schedule a trip to the old town in Gdansk on 10 June. After they have done that, the calendar will not only remind them of the scheduled event but also allow them to quickly access all the information on the old town in Gdansk."

PL.2012 are likewise offering foreign visitors the Polish Pass, which can combine a ticket for almost all forms of urban transport in Poland's four host cities with a railway ticket for trips all over Poland, an air ticket, health insurance and a hotel booking system. The Polish Pass has been available since December via online distribution websites and the Polish Guide web service, and it allows tourists and fans to buy only the elements they wish to use before printing out their pass and carrying everything they need in a single document.

For more information, go to: polishguide2012.pl.