GPS Kit

The iPhone is far from perfect. But perhaps its greatest appeal is its ability to replace several separate cumbersome and expensive gadgets with one simple device. With Garafa’s GPS Kit, even the most ardent GPS enthusiasts may be able to set aside their dedicated GPS units and reach for their iPhone instead. I took version 3.2 out for a spin, which works well with OS 3.0 on my 3G S.

For those who don’t own dedicated GPS units, you may be wondering if you need anything more than the basic functionality that the iPhone provides out of the box, especially for an app priced at $9.99. The iPhone by default comes with an application which pulls up Google maps. It can find your current location, show you maps around the globe, and provide directions by car, bus or foot.

If you want to mark your current position, or any number of positions and recall it later, the basic map app likely won’t be enough. GPS Kit allows you to store unlimited locations to pull up at any time. You can name waypoints, and even place waypoints together in a set. You can also discover nearby waypoints that others have saved, download sets, and share your own. For example, I can download approximately 12,000 Panera Bread locations.

Likewise you can download or create an unlimited series of tracks. For an outdoor hobbyist who wants to find trails on vacation, a good bike route, or even get into geocaching, GPS Kit is the app for you. Both the waypoints and tracks are exported in GPX format.

A compass will help direct you to your desired waypoint if you get turned around. If you want traditional directions, GPS Kit will pull up the iPhone’s built in map application with your destination already set.

Obviously, a big part of the value inherent here is in the data created by the community and hosted on Garafa’s website. As more users add their waypoints, it will be easier to find new destinations to explore. If you want to wander off to new routes of your own, simply pull up the map, double-tap to drop a pin, or pull up the ruler and stretch between two points to gauge the distance. In addition to the traditional map view, and the street image view, GPS Kit adds a topography view that is especially useful when exploring less urban locales.

While en route, the dashboard tracks the trip time, speed, overall pace, GPS accuracy, direction and distance traveled. On the fly you can change any of the readouts to display in the units of your choosing. Feeling nautical on your next fishing trip? Set your speed to display in knots. It isn’t guaranteed to help you grow sea legs however. I recommend a Dramamine for that.

GPS Kit will also let you cache your data which is an important feature. If you lose signal along the way, you can still pull up information on your destination. Leave the app, bring it back up, and it will ask you if you want to restore the track you had open, or start fresh.

It would be nice if I could add waypoints by entering in an address or GPS coordinates as opposed to sticking pins directly in the map. And ideally I’d love to see turn-by-turn directions that update based upon GPS locations. However, that functionality currently only exists with the AT&T Navigator service. I’m not sure competing products will find their way into the App Store.

A proximity sensor, dashboard lock, adjustable settings and clever coding help optimize battery life to make GPS Kit a viable alternative to dedicated devices on your next expedition. Garafa’s website also provides several videos and user guides. A clean, responsive interface rounds out the professional polish on this feature rich app. The $9.99 price tag might scare off a curious buyer who isn’t sure they need a GPS app. But Garafa has pulled out all the stops in putting together an impressive product for the serious enthusiast in GPS Kit that could save you hundreds over a competing dedicated device.