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G-Map brings real-time GPS navigation to the iPhone 3G!

By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 at 10:41 AM

gmap-for-iphoneIf you’re still holding your breath for Apple to enable some sort of turn-by-turn GPS navigation functionality on the iPhone, you might have to keep on keepin’ on, as they say. Ever since Apple released its GPS-toting iPhone 3G, the world has been waiting for a bona fide navigation application with turn-by-turn directions. The GPS receiver lying within the iPhone 3G offered users the tantalizing prospect of using their shiny handset as an in-car GPS navigation system, but Apple has so far been slow to move on that front. But, if real-time GPS navigation on the iPhone is more important than your loyalty to Apple, XROAD’s new G-Map for iPhone is ready to turn your iPhone 3G into a high-performance GPS navigation unit.

Car blog Kicking Tires had a chance to review the new XROAD G-Map application for the iPhone 3G, and came away quite impressed. G-Map for iPhone proved to be as accurate as any dedicated navigation unit from TomTom or Garmin, as long as towering buildings didn’t get in the way – GPS accuracy suffers in downtown Chicago, but moving towards the out-skirts of town revives G-Map’s pin-point accuracy. G-Map also gets high marks for its ease of use (this is an iPhone, remember?), POI content, routing directions and value. Unfortunately, G-Map lost points for its inability to display all street names on the map and its apparent lack of voice-guided navigation. But, with future application updates likely to fix the street name snafu, G-Map for iPhone still scores well.

G-Map for iPhone will cost you $19 from the iPhone AppStore, but when you compare that to the cost of a comparably sized (in terms of screen size) GPS navigation unit, it’s obvious that there’s tons of value packed in this iPhone app.

[Via: EngadgetMobile]

About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

  • Robert MacEwan

    This is so cool. I’m in Pittsburgh at the moment and just used Google maps to get to the Apple store about a mile or so away. I’m heading there to grab an iPod Touch.

    Well, guess it doesn’t really have anything to do with this article, but it’s exciting all the same. :-) Please tell me this will work with iPod touch.

  • BDC

    This is lame. Why cant apple alow Tom Tom to create a REAL GPS app????