Spotted by Locals is a publisher of a series of Travel guides on European cities. In each of the (currently) 33 cities, 4 to 6 local authors ("Spotters"), share information about their favorite spots in the city where they live, and update this information.

Spotted by Locals is a cityblog network that is edited by people who live in the city they write about and speak the local language. All Spotters are selected by founders Sanne & Bart van Poll .

Spotted by Locals is aimed at travelers who want local information about a city, and avoid the typical tourist spots.

Tips provided on the cityblogs can be browsed online, and are also available as iPhone

IPhone

The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...

 applications and via the augmented reality

Augmented reality

Augmented reality is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is...

 application Layar . Visitors can also download a monthly updated PDF cityguide(at a charge of Euro 3.99) for each city, which includes the updated versions of articles with an index and maps.

Access to travel information from locals is gaining popularity amongst travelers and travel organizations like Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet is the largest travel guide book and digital media publisher in the world. The company is owned by BBC Worldwide, which bought a 75% share from the founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 2007 and the final 25% in February 2011...

 . In 2010 Spotted by Locals was one of the co-founders of LocalTravelMovement.com , a not-for-profit responsible travel

Ecotourism

Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...

 website and discussion platform aiming to unite companies who commit to operating with Local Travel values founded. In 3 months, 60 organizations became a "Local Travel Movement" partner.

The Spotted by Locals concept has received coverage on BBC World

BBC World

BBC World News is the BBC's international news and current affairs television channel. It has the largest audience of any BBC channel in the world...

 , and in newspapers and magazines like The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung , Le Monde

Le Monde

Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...

  and National Geographic Traveler

National Geographic Traveler

National Geographic Traveler is a magazine published by the National Geographic Society in the United States. It was launched in 1984. Local-language editions of National Geographic Traveler are published in Armenia, Belgium/the Netherlands, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Latin America,...

.

History

Mar 2008	Spotted by Locals was founded by Sanne & Bart van Poll, a married couple of avid travelers from Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population... , The Netherlands
Apr 2008:	Founders start a 6 month trip to 21 cities in Europe, to select the first 120 Spotters
Nov 2008:	Winner of Mashable Mashable Mashable is an American news website and Internet news blog founded by Pete Cashmore. The website's primary focus is social media news, but also covers news and developments in mobile, entertainment, online video, business, web development, technology, memes and gadgets...  Open Web Awards in the category "Travel"
Feb 2009:	Winner of Lonely Planet Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is the largest travel guide book and digital media publisher in the world. The company is owned by BBC Worldwide, which bought a 75% share from the founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 2007 and the final 25% in February 2011...  Travel Blog Award in the "Best Group authored Travel blog" category
Jun 2009:	Winner of Travel Mole "Best Travel Blog" award
Nov 2009:	Adds one of the first multi-national Layar augmented reality applications
Feb 2010:	A monthly updated PDF cityguide with all up-to-date tips is offered for download on each of the cityblogs
Oct 2010:	Winner of Guardian newspaper "Best Travel Website" Award
Dec 2010:	Launch of 33rd cityblog
Feb 2011:	Launch of 33 IPhone IPhone The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...  applications