Two youngsters check out a cellphone. A company is now providing information on the city on cellphones

You will no longer have to depend on guides to find out where to eat, catch a movie or buy a book in the city. All you will need is a cellphone.

A recently launched website, www.owap.in, is providing exhaustive information on Calcutta on cellphones, using the GPRS technology.

The website provides information under 11 categories — movies, restaurants, cafes, bookshops, florists, bars, hotels, taxi services, hospitals, beauty salons and ATMs.

“Our search engine will be of great help to GPRS users. They can search anything and everything while they are on the move,” said Shailesh Mehta, chief executive officer, Onyomo.

Onyomo is a venture being incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. The company was started in early 2006.

“The idea of the service struck me when I was new in Delhi and had a very hard time finding my way. There should be a service that will enable people to get information while they are travelling,” said Mehta. “And Onyomo stands for on your move.”

On the website, users have to first select their city. Then they can specify their location — for example, Esplanade — and find out about the service needed — for example, movies.

The search engine will list all the movies playing in and around the Esplanade area. It will also provide reviews and ratings. The users can call the movie halls and save the data for future use.

A number of IIT Delhi professors are on the board of the company to provide the “necessary” technological edge, said Mehta. “Our mission is to provide easy-to-access quality information on every product and service of interest.”

Earlier this month, Onyomo also launched its SMS service in Calcutta. Those who don’t have GPRS-enabled cellphones can SMS queries to 8558. The rates will be Rs 2 per SMS.

The service is available in Mumbai, Delhi/NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Calcutta and Pune. Plans are afoot to extend the services to other cities.