Comparison
Roots Earth and SmartGuide: the facts
Roots Earth: Audio stories for 5,665 places in 133 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions. The stories are written by local people. SmartGuide is an app for iOS and Android with a web app opened from a QR code; its home page says "SmartGuide helps tourism organisations guide and engage visitors at scale." The table puts the facts of both side by side; every SmartGuide fact on this page comes from SmartGuide's own pages, read on 16 September 2026, and is listed under Sources.
Published 15 September 2026. Markdown: smartguide.md
How do Roots Earth and SmartGuide compare?
| Fact | Roots Earth | SmartGuide |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | 133 cities in 25 countries across 6 regions | "over 800" destinations (Google Play); "over 1000" (App Store) |
| Cities and places, where published | 133 cities and 5,665 places | "100k" places of interest and "6k" local guides (home page); "over 800" destinations (Google Play) and "over 1000" (App Store) |
| Languages | Every place in all 133 cities has its audio story, a short introduction and a longer story, in all seven languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Albanian. | "30+ languages" (home page); the App Store Languages field lists 13 entries |
| Account needed | No account | Not stated on their site |
| Plays offline | Yes, once a city's audio is downloaded | Yes (home page) |
| Who writes the content, where stated | Local people write the stories | Not stated as one sentence; the home page says content is made "with the help of AI" and the app description says the narratives are "from local guides" |
| Platforms | iOS (App Store) and Android (Google Play) | iOS, Android and a web app opened from a QR code |
| Store links | App Store and Google Play | App Store and Google Play |
This page is about Roots Earth, and the Roots Earth app page describes the app.
Every row in full
What it covers
Roots Earth: Audio stories for 5,665 places in 133 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions. Europe: 10 countries, 58 cities and 2,313 places. North America: 2 countries, 10 cities and 467 places. Latin America: 4 countries, 20 cities and 892 places. Africa: 3 countries, 15 cities and 650 places. Asia: 3 countries, 15 cities and 705 places. Oceania: 3 countries, 15 cities and 638 places.
SmartGuide: The Google Play description counts "over 800 popular destinations around the world" and the App Store description counts "over 1000". The destinations index lists destinations by country; for Albania, for example, it lists Albania, Berat, Durrës, Fier, Gjirokastër, Korçë, Krujë, Sarandë, Shkoder, Tirana and Vlora, with no stop or place count per destination. Sources: 2, 3, 4.
Cities and places, where published
Roots Earth: 133 cities and 5,665 places. The counts come from the Roots Earth catalogue snapshot read on 31 October 2026 (2026-10-31T08:21:20.121Z).
SmartGuide: The home page counts "6k" local guides, "100k" places of interest and "10k" titles. The Google Play description counts "over 800 popular destinations around the world" and the App Store description counts "over 1000". Sources: 1, 3, 4.
Languages
Roots Earth: Every place in all 133 cities has its audio story, a short introduction and a longer story, in all seven languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Albanian. Each language covers all 5,665 places.
SmartGuide: The home page states "30+ languages". The App Store Languages field lists 13 entries: Catalan, Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Chinese, Slovak, Spanish. Sources: 1, 3.
Account needed
SmartGuide: Not stated on their site. The home page states "No installation required" for the web access opened from a QR code. Source: 1.
Plays offline
SmartGuide: Yes. The home page lists "offline access" and "Offline maps and itineraries". Source: 1.
Who writes the content, where stated
SmartGuide: Not stated as a single authorship sentence. The home page says content is produced "with the help of AI, incl. multilingual audio" and calls the product an "AI-powered audio guide app"; the app description says the guide plays narratives "from local guides". Sources: 1, 3, 4.
Store links
SmartGuide: App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id318062323. Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smart_guide.smartguide.T_00007. Sources: 3, 4.
Sources
Every SmartGuide fact on this page was read on 16 September 2026 from a page SmartGuide publishes itself; times are UTC. Where a page counts its own audio items, this page gives the number and calls them titles. Where the record of the read does not name which SmartGuide page a statement is on, the row cites every SmartGuide page it could be on. Roots Earth catalogue facts: The counts come from the Roots Earth catalogue snapshot read on 31 October 2026 (2026-10-31T08:21:20.121Z). Store facts retain their cited read dates.
- https://www.smartguide.app: SmartGuide home page, read 16 September 2026 at 07:05 UTC.
- https://www.smart-guide.org/en/destinations/: SmartGuide destinations index, read 16 September 2026 at 07:05 UTC.
- https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=318062323&country=us: SmartGuide App Store listing, read 16 September 2026 at 07:05 UTC; Apple's lookup service, which returns the listing's published fields.
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smart_guide.smartguide.T_00007&hl=en&gl=US: SmartGuide Google Play listing, read 16 September 2026 at 07:05 UTC.
- https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=6772810517: Roots Earth App Store listing, read 24 September 2026 at 08:39 UTC; Apple's lookup service, which returns the listing's published fields.
Roots Earth in short
- No account
- Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
- Every place in all 133 cities has its audio story, a short introduction and a longer story, in all seven languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Albanian.
Roots Earth for Android is available on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsearth.app. Roots Earth for iOS is available on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6772810517.