Is there a customizable, location-based iPhone map app?
September 3, 2009 6:37 AM Subscribe
Is there a customizable, location-based iPhone map app that lets the user collect and display his or her own points of interest?
I've searched and searched for this and fear it may not exist, but here goes:
My dream iPhone app would allow me set up an account to collect and save interesting addresses I find while surfing the web: not just restaurants, but stores, museums, parks, theaters, ice cream stands, whatever. Then later, when I'm out and about -- finding myself with, say, a hour to kill in a particular neighborhood or city -- it would display all the nearby addresses I've collected in a map of the area on my iPhone.
Apps like Yelp and Urban Spoon are great for some purposes, but they're both too specialized *and* too cluttered. They tell me what OTHER people think is interesting in a neighborhood, but not what I think is interesting. I don't need to know about every local bar beloved by college students. But if I happen to read about an unusual spot in another part of town, or in another city, it would be great to be able to save that information in some form more useful than a web browser bookmark.
Does anyone know of an app that can do this?
I've searched and searched for this and fear it may not exist, but here goes:
My dream iPhone app would allow me set up an account to collect and save interesting addresses I find while surfing the web: not just restaurants, but stores, museums, parks, theaters, ice cream stands, whatever. Then later, when I'm out and about -- finding myself with, say, a hour to kill in a particular neighborhood or city -- it would display all the nearby addresses I've collected in a map of the area on my iPhone.
Apps like Yelp and Urban Spoon are great for some purposes, but they're both too specialized *and* too cluttered. They tell me what OTHER people think is interesting in a neighborhood, but not what I think is interesting. I don't need to know about every local bar beloved by college students. But if I happen to read about an unusual spot in another part of town, or in another city, it would be great to be able to save that information in some form more useful than a web browser bookmark.
Does anyone know of an app that can do this?
Response by poster: You can display any web page (such as a Google My Maps) on the iPhone using Safari. But that's just a web page, as opposed to a location-based app that can tell you where you are now and show you what's nearby.
There is an app called My Maps that will load a Google My Maps web page and show you where you are on it, but it doesn't update continuously, so you have to keep sending yourself the map to make sure it's current.
posted by Lauram at 8:00 AM on September 3, 2009
There is an app called My Maps that will load a Google My Maps web page and show you where you are on it, but it doesn't update continuously, so you have to keep sending yourself the map to make sure it's current.
posted by Lauram at 8:00 AM on September 3, 2009
Do you ever use the bookmarks in the Maps app? You drop a pin somewhere, add some detail and then save it. Not nearly as graceful as what you're looking for, but might be a start.
posted by birdherder at 8:05 AM on September 3, 2009
posted by birdherder at 8:05 AM on September 3, 2009
Response by poster: I've tried that, but it's kind of awkward, since I don't do that much web surfing on the iPhone itself because it's small and cramped. Most of the time, at home or work, I'm reading newspapers, forums, etc. on my MacBook.
There are apps that have bookmarklets that you can use to select and save web pages to read later on the iPhone, which is very handy. It seems like there should be a map equivalent.
posted by Lauram at 8:10 AM on September 3, 2009
There are apps that have bookmarklets that you can use to select and save web pages to read later on the iPhone, which is very handy. It seems like there should be a map equivalent.
posted by Lauram at 8:10 AM on September 3, 2009
I am the author of Mobile Streetmaps.
Have a look at the manual at that site, and feel free to contact me with remarks why this works, or doesn't work, for you. Perhaps there's a new app in your requirements...
posted by DreamerFi at 8:48 AM on September 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
Have a look at the manual at that site, and feel free to contact me with remarks why this works, or doesn't work, for you. Perhaps there's a new app in your requirements...
posted by DreamerFi at 8:48 AM on September 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
I can't mess around with this too much at work, and again, I don't have an iPhone, but this FireFox plugin will do at least the first half of what you ask. While you're browsing, you can highlight an address, right click, and it will map/save it in the sidebar. You can then export the list of addresses you've saved to various formats. The part I don't know is whether you can then automagically import them to some location-aware application on your phone - is there a mapping app that can subscribe to RSS feeds? If so, you can use GeoRSS. This is what I'd look for next.
posted by desjardins at 8:49 AM on September 3, 2009
posted by desjardins at 8:49 AM on September 3, 2009
GMaps on the iPhone can load a set of KML points (alas, with no metadata beyond the name) but it's a start. I've converted stuff like Roadfood.com's data to KML and put it on a server. In the location bar of the map app, I just load http://wherever/food.kml
Generating kml, getting it on a server, etc is not trivial, though.
posted by paanta at 9:43 AM on September 3, 2009
Generating kml, getting it on a server, etc is not trivial, though.
posted by paanta at 9:43 AM on September 3, 2009
Response by poster: Alas, Mobile Streetmaps isn't even close, since the maps aren't customizable and there's no web utility. The point is to easily assemble and display a location-aware map whose placemarkers are entirely created by the user.
It sounds like the forthcoming new version of My Maps is the only app that approaches this functionality that I have find. Some app developer really ought to get on this one -- lots of people seem to want it, from what I've seen during my search. There are Rube Goldberg-esque methods, true, but an easy, user-friendly version would be really popular.
posted by Lauram at 3:51 PM on September 3, 2009
It sounds like the forthcoming new version of My Maps is the only app that approaches this functionality that I have find. Some app developer really ought to get on this one -- lots of people seem to want it, from what I've seen during my search. There are Rube Goldberg-esque methods, true, but an easy, user-friendly version would be really popular.
posted by Lauram at 3:51 PM on September 3, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by desjardins at 6:51 AM on September 3, 2009