WANTED: Non-data connected GPS app

[StuffOfInterest]

The GPS functions in the iPhone 3G are nice, but there is one application I'd really like to see. I have a really old Garmin eTrex GPS. This thing has no built in maps, but it can tell me where I am (lat/lon), what direction I'm going, and how fast I'm going. It will also calculate basic functions such as sun up and sun down times based on position and date. Finally, it can create a track map I can use to either get back to a point of interest I've marked or show a basic line of where I've been. Again, all this is done without any sort of overlay map.

I'd love to have a function like this for the iPhone! Last weekend I was out on a short hike. In the area I was in there was no cell coverage. Although the phone would throw a nice blue dot on the the screen, since the maps couldn't download the dot was of no use. The interface doesn't even have a way to see what my current lat and lon are! I'd have really liked to have been able to mark a few points duirng hte hike and see how far I traveled during that walk.

Has anyone heard of work being done on an app such as this?

 

[genshi]

The GPS functions in the iPhone 3G are nice, but there is one application I'd really like to see. I have a really old Garmin eTrex GPS. This thing has no built in maps, but it can tell me where I am (lat/lon), what direction I'm going, and how fast I'm going. It will also calculate basic functions such as sun up and sun down times based on position and date. Finally, it can create a track map I can use to either get back to a point of interest I've marked or show a basic line of where I've been. Again, all this is done without any sort of overlay map.

I'd love to have a function like this for the iPhone! Last weekend I was out on a short hike. In the area I was in there was no cell coverage. Although the phone would throw a nice blue dot on the the screen, since the maps couldn't download the dot was of no use. The interface doesn't even have a way to see what my current lat and lon are! I'd have really liked to have been able to mark a few points duirng hte hike and see how far I traveled during that walk.

Has anyone heard of work being done on an app such as this?

G-Spot gives you your current altitude, latitude and longitude and allows you to mark it and email it to yourself or to friends. Tried it today and is pretty accurate (also has a compass that tells you which way youa re going.)

 

[StuffOfInterest]

G-Spot gives you your current altitude, latitude and longitude and allows you to mark it and email it to yourself or to friends. Tried it today and is pretty accurate (also has a compass that tells you which way you are going.)

Looks close. Once the author internationalizes it (sorry, I think in feet not meters) and possibly adds a few more features such as route plotting I may have to give this one a go. Thanks.

 

[diesel]

Looks close. Once the author internationalizes it (sorry, I think in feet not meters) and possibly adds a few more features such as route plotting I may have to give this one a go. Thanks.

looking at the screenshots for gspot, they seemed to have had a minor f@#$ up. accuracy is displayed in meters whereas speed is displayed in miles per hour. they should have gone with one or the other, i.e. meters/ft vs km/miles

big visible mistakes like that in a production release irks me, just means sloppiness on their part

 

[philgilder]

looking at the screenshots for gspot, they seemed to have had a minor f@#$ up. accuracy is displayed in meters whereas speed is displayed in miles per hour. they should have gone with one or the other, i.e. meters/ft vs km/miles

big visible mistakes like that in a production release irks me, just means sloppiness on their part

thats how i work - meters for short distance, miles for long distance, and mph for speed. fine by me

i guess it depends where you are from
im in the uk, and was born after the switch to metric, but speed is still in mph, so for large distances, those covered by car, are in miles
and the US, Ivory Coast, Myanmar (Berma) are the only coutries still using the imperial system

 

[StuffOfInterest]

Looks like OS 2.1

Judging by this story, it appears that OS rev 2.1 will have some core services which make the app I want much easier for the developers to write. If speed and direction are calculated at the OS level, then the app will have a much easier time. Who knows, maybe Apple will even include some of these functions in the existing maps application.

 

[Van Wildonher]

I'm waiting on something like this too. Something I can use for fishing etc. Route plotting where are you?? It can't be that hard if GPS's have been doing it for years. I WISH I knew how to develop an app, I'd make this and rake in some money.

Edit: I guess I don't even need route plotting, just current location to a waypoint.