When it comes to mobile travel apps, it’s a buyer’s market at the junkyard. There is not shortage of half-baked, vaguely useful apps that you may use once or twice then forget they existed.

So many location-based apps that suggest attractions close to you have incomplete and often outdated databases. Place-specific guides also tend to be limited, often listing the most obvious attractions.

An app like ProGuides has useful general information about a place, but like so many travel apps, it’s an abridged Lonely Planet in mobile form.

So it was a rare pleasure to test out a travel app that really gets mobility and all its possibilities: location, user-generated content, navigation, and augmented reality.

Disclosure: mTrip offered me a free iPhone app for review. The app sells for $5.99 in Apple’s App Store.

First of all, mTrip is not for every traveler. Because its city-specific guides are so complete, it may feel like cheating for more adventurous types who like getting lost in strange new places.

What sets mTrip apart is the itinerary advisor. The app asks you what kind of attractions interest you by using sliders. For example, I can tell it to suggest lots of parks and museums, but go easy on the religious sites. I then punch in the number of days I’ll be in the city, and it creates a customized itinerary for me. Ingeniously, it can organize the itinerary based on your starting position (like your hotel) and

by distance to minimize walking times. You can also specify the intensity of the itinerary, that is, how many attractions it should cram into one day. As such, mTrip acts like a tour planner without the large groups and cheesy T-shirts. You also have the freedom to change the itinerary anytime.

I tested the app for New York City, and the list of attractions, shops, bars and restaurants is impressive. mTrip gets its content from Germany-based Falk CIS, a firm specializing in mobile navigation and travel maps.

Users can also add new places and rate them.

The app also has an Augmented Reality function which I didn’t get to test, as I was neither in New York and don’t have the iPhone 4 or 3GS with the required video camera.

In all, mTrip is ideal for the traveler who likes to know where he’s going but would like to lose the bulky guidebook. Independent travelers who wear T-shirts with “Losers plan it” written in the Lonely Planet logo will find it an electronic babysitter.

The app is currently available for 17 major world cities.

Another reason I like mTrip: they are based in my hometown of Montreal.

Further reading:
Review: mTrip iPhone app uses augmented reality (AP)

Governments are listening and tinkering with their economies to foster creative industries like design, architecture, software, video games, and film. The benefits, those important-sounding economists say, are multiple: urban regeneration, higher wages as jobs upgrade from service and manufacturing, flourishing cultural scenes that attract tourism, modernized educational programs that generate talent… the list goes on.

I’m looking at how well-positioned Montreal, my home city, is for this new economy. What are the cultural and social structures that promote creative thinking? Where to the creative types gather to exchange ideas and launch projects? How effective are government incentives? How well do big companies scout creative talent and put their ideas to commercial use?

Vancouver, where I spent 10 days, can be considered Montreal’s rival creative city. Both provincial governments joust for the attention of foreign video game and film companies. Both have fairly liberal attitudes that attract artistic types. So my research has expanded into a comparison of both cities to see which has an edge.

Although both cities share much in common, they are astoundingly different: in attitude, in values, in expectations. Both have vastly disparate influences whether from immigration, natural setting, and political sensibilities.

It was fun coming up with single words that define each city and help understand their unique engines of creative thought.

Vancouver is water, Montreal is ice.
Vancouver is Asian, Montreal is European.
Vancouver is coastal, Montreal is continental.
Vancouver is mountain, Montreal is trees.
Vancouver is glass, Montreal is stone.
Vancouver is pot, Montreal is ecstasy.
Vancouver is nude, Montreal is lingerie.
Vancouver is an early bird, Montreal is a night owl.
Vancouver is androgynous, Montreal is feminine.
Vancouver is kayak, Montreal is patio.
Vancouver is organic, Montreal is cosmetic.
Vancouver is green, Montreal is mauve.
Vancouver is Javascript, Montreal is Python.
Vancouver is young and bold, Montreal is old and cautious.
Vancouver is extroverted, Montreal is introspective.
Vancouver seeks interaction, Montreal avoids eye contact.
Vancouver is latte, Montreal is café au lait.
Vancouver is India pale ale, Montreal is Weissbier.
Vancouver is sushi, Montreal is smoked meat.

What words would you use to describe both cities?

Please allow us to introduce ourselves. We’re Roberto and Bianca. We’re a couple. We’re both from Brazil and we both chose Canada as our adopted nation. We’re also both journalists, and together we’ll travel around the world for one year starting February 2010.

We’re so happy you stopped by. We made the video above to tell us a little bit more about ourselves and what we’re doing with this blog. We hope to see you back here.

Cheers!