GPS for iPhone 5
June 11, 2013 12:20 PM Subscribe
Going to New York and need a special kind of GPS.
So I'm going to New York in a couple of weeks with my teenager son. I have read a lot of awesome recommendations from the hive mind and already took a bunch of notes. The places that we want to visit are not the regular tourist attractions but little interesting stores, restaurant and places. I'm looking for an application for my iPhone that allows me to mark those places previously selected and when I turn on my GPS on while standing on a particular point, it shows me those places that I want to go. Let's say that I'm at the end of Brooklyn Bridge on the Brooklyn's side, I turn it on and it shows me on the map Grimaldi's and The Superhero Supply Store. I'm not a technology person so probably that already exists on my phone, just that I don't know it is there. I need help!
So I'm going to New York in a couple of weeks with my teenager son. I have read a lot of awesome recommendations from the hive mind and already took a bunch of notes. The places that we want to visit are not the regular tourist attractions but little interesting stores, restaurant and places. I'm looking for an application for my iPhone that allows me to mark those places previously selected and when I turn on my GPS on while standing on a particular point, it shows me those places that I want to go. Let's say that I'm at the end of Brooklyn Bridge on the Brooklyn's side, I turn it on and it shows me on the map Grimaldi's and The Superhero Supply Store. I'm not a technology person so probably that already exists on my phone, just that I don't know it is there. I need help!
Best answer: I use Foursquare's Lists feature for this purpose. Go to Foursquare.com, create an account, and save every place you want to visit to a new list. Preferably with a tip or a little bit of info. Or save someone else's list that's already been created. Here's my Strange Places and Oddities List on Foursquare.
Then on the iPhone, download the Foursquare app. Then tap the menu button on the upper left, tap All Lists, tap on a specific list, and you get a map with a list of venues. Tap on the map and the list panel slides down, and you get icons superimposed on the map the correspond with every venue on that list.
posted by kathryn at 1:38 PM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
Then on the iPhone, download the Foursquare app. Then tap the menu button on the upper left, tap All Lists, tap on a specific list, and you get a map with a list of venues. Tap on the map and the list panel slides down, and you get icons superimposed on the map the correspond with every venue on that list.
posted by kathryn at 1:38 PM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
Rego does this, among other things. You can plan your trip before hand. You search for the place and add it to your trip. You can add a note (opening times, best meals), add a picture to show you what it looks like.
Wherever you are you open the app and you'll get your position, as well as all the places you want to visit, sorted by how close they are to you. You can then click a place and have maps take you there (google or iMaps).
You can do this in several ways, as you've seen, and you'll have to buy the app, but it does it much better than most other ways, including foursquare.
posted by justgary at 2:13 PM on June 11, 2013
Wherever you are you open the app and you'll get your position, as well as all the places you want to visit, sorted by how close they are to you. You can then click a place and have maps take you there (google or iMaps).
You can do this in several ways, as you've seen, and you'll have to buy the app, but it does it much better than most other ways, including foursquare.
posted by justgary at 2:13 PM on June 11, 2013
Best answer: I'd second herrdoktor about using stars in Google maps. I use this to do exactly what you're describing. Do research for interesting places beforehand at home, star them, then pull up Google maps out in the field, and see what stars are around.
posted by BevosAngryGhost at 2:30 PM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by BevosAngryGhost at 2:30 PM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
Another great thing about Google Maps is you can set places like "home" and "work" (which I use all the time to get directions quickly), so you could also set "hotel" so you don't have to put in your hotel's address every time you want to get directions to or from there.
posted by radioamy at 3:50 PM on June 11, 2013
posted by radioamy at 3:50 PM on June 11, 2013
You can also make your own custom Google Maps with custom icons for your locations of interest.
Assuming you're using "Classic Maps" (which is infinitely more productive IMHO), just search for your place of interest and either in the popup or the sidebar to the left, choose "Save to Map." From there, create the new map, give it a name, and repeat for each of your attractions saving them to the newly created map. You can add notes for each location (e.g., open hours, details, etc) and custom icons to recognize them quickly.
On Google Maps for Android, you can add a layer of your custom map that will have all of your locations readily available.
On the web interface, you can get to your custom map by clicking "My Places" on the left sidebar, then Maps, then choosing your newly created map.
Super handy for exactly the purpose you specify! This also has the advantage that it doesn't clutter your normal map view like the star idea (which is also great!) will.
posted by schwab at 6:04 PM on June 11, 2013
Assuming you're using "Classic Maps" (which is infinitely more productive IMHO), just search for your place of interest and either in the popup or the sidebar to the left, choose "Save to Map." From there, create the new map, give it a name, and repeat for each of your attractions saving them to the newly created map. You can add notes for each location (e.g., open hours, details, etc) and custom icons to recognize them quickly.
On Google Maps for Android, you can add a layer of your custom map that will have all of your locations readily available.
On the web interface, you can get to your custom map by clicking "My Places" on the left sidebar, then Maps, then choosing your newly created map.
Super handy for exactly the purpose you specify! This also has the advantage that it doesn't clutter your normal map view like the star idea (which is also great!) will.
posted by schwab at 6:04 PM on June 11, 2013
Response by poster: I'm definitely using google maps but took a bunch of places from Kathryn's Strange Places and Oddity List. Thanks!
posted by 3dd at 5:39 AM on June 12, 2013
posted by 3dd at 5:39 AM on June 12, 2013
Another great thing about Google Maps is you can set places like "home" and "work" (which I use all the time to get directions quickly), so you could also set "hotel" so you don't have to put in your hotel's address every time you want to get directions to or from there.
Always a good idea. I mark my hotel on Rego, and then you always know how far away you are from any place you want to visit, and then you have an easy way to get back.
I know the OP has already made their decision, but to anyone else coming to this thread, you really should check out Rego. Here's a page showing what it can be used for. It can easily be both a planning tool and a diary of that same trip.
I know a lot of people are just going to use google. They already use it, and it's free. But if you want much better solution, an app that was built just for this, a beautiful app, you should check out Rego. It's simply a far superior solution to google maps unless you simply want to use everything google. I have no affiliation to Rego, just a big fan.
posted by justgary at 6:07 AM on June 16, 2013
Always a good idea. I mark my hotel on Rego, and then you always know how far away you are from any place you want to visit, and then you have an easy way to get back.
I know the OP has already made their decision, but to anyone else coming to this thread, you really should check out Rego. Here's a page showing what it can be used for. It can easily be both a planning tool and a diary of that same trip.
I know a lot of people are just going to use google. They already use it, and it's free. But if you want much better solution, an app that was built just for this, a beautiful app, you should check out Rego. It's simply a far superior solution to google maps unless you simply want to use everything google. I have no affiliation to Rego, just a big fan.
posted by justgary at 6:07 AM on June 16, 2013
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