New City Guides from The Economist

The Economist has revamped its range of online city guides, which cover all the main stop-off's for the business class. Allegedly "a new kind of city guide", it's not all that. Yes, you can get cheat-sheet's, maps, bookings via Expedia & Open Table, links to deeper Economist content, monthly emailed news updates, as well as local ettiquette guides(!). The Economist's editorial and information design famously exhibits wit, intelligence, style, and precision - sadly not much of that has made it online. Nor are there any truly innovative approaches to the online city guide. As any fule kno, the best way to get under the skin of cities is to walk them, read them, and have a local contact ... so why no networks of business/social contacts, or truly local insight via user-generated content (reputation-managed, natch)? Where's the thriving messageboards and self-organising focal points for Economist types in or visiting Paris? It all feels a bit one-way. Why no maps á là the Wallpaper* navigators but better designed for either online or printable PDF? Why no linkages to PDA content? Perhaps The Economist's target audience doesn't actually have time for such things.