The city of Venice and software developer Diego Pizzocaro have announced a free smartphone app titled "hi!tide Venice." The app is available in English for both iOS (iPhone) and Android, and it predicts acqua alta (tidal flooding) with data supplied by Venice's official tidal-monitoring and flood-warning service, the Istituzione Centro Previsioni e Segnalazioni Maree.

The app's main screen shows the current tide plus anticipated low and high tides over the next two days. You can click on a daily forecast for a more detailed view that includes an hour-by-hour graph.

You'll also see icons for "Places" and "Ferries" that show current tide levels at main points of interest (such as the Piazza San Marco) and vaporetto piers.

To download the free app from Apple's App Store or the Android Market, click the links on:

City of Venice: Tide Forecast Apps

ABOVE: "Where can I picnic in Venice?" is one of the questions that we answer in our new FAQ at Veniceforvisitors.com.

We've just published a Venice Travel FAQ at our main site, Venice for Visitors (a.k.a. Veniceforvisitors.com). The 10 pages of Q&A cover the following topics:

• General questions about Venice
• Planning a trip
• Hotels and vacation apartments
• Arriving and getting around
• Money and credit cards
• Food and drink
• Sightseeing and tours
• Shopping
• Personal safety and emergencies
• Cruises

Many of the answers link to more detailed information on our site, or (where appropriate) to other resources such as the Port of Venice's ship calendar and a list of lost-and-found offices.

We think this new FAQ will be a great tool for travelers who want a quick-and-easy introduction to Venice, or who dislike drilling down through menus or using site search.

To see the questions and answers, please click the link below:

Venice Travel FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) at Veniceforvisitors.com