iPhone: Find Yourself and Beyond

Posted by Clayton Lewis on January 19, 2008 under Blog Articles, Mac Tips, Uncategorized | 3 Comments to Read

This may not be a new tip for iPhone users but while at MacWorld I discovered this neat little tidbit.

iPhone 1.1.3 includes a pseudo GPS of sorts, in so that with a push of a button, it can pinpoint where you are standing or at least come rather close. I decided to test it out on the streets of San Francisco. I wandered a few blocks away from the Moscone Center… pressed the Navigation button on my iPhone’s Google Maps and within a few seconds, I was “found”.

Now as cool as that is… I started thinking that it would be really cool if it would tell me where the nearest McDonald’s was. (I saw one a couple nights earlier but couldn’t remember where.)

So while still in Google Maps, I clicked the Search button. Type in McDonalds and what do you know… in a few seconds about 5 little pins popped up within the area I was standing in. I pressed on one, pressed the Directions button and it gave me turn by turn instructions on how to get there from where I was… How cool is that?

I decided to test it again. Last night, I took the BART train back to the airport area and wanted to know how close my hotel was to where I was standing. Again, I press the Navigation button… it figured out I was standing in the SFO area, pressed Search and typed in the name of my hotel (Comfort Inn & Suites)… a few moments later… a small handful of Pins appeared with the name of the hotels in the area.. including mine!! Sweeeeet!!

Being that I was in a metropolitan area sure didn’t hurt but I’m curious to know how it works in less populated areas. If you have an iPhone, test it out and let me know what you find.