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iPhone apps for Travellers

Travel is made easier with technology. Here, I am listing the iphone apps I use regularly for travel purposes.


Google Maps
The granddaddy of apps. Universally useful. Gmap is an excellent resource: roads, routes, facilities, and an optional satellite view, are all shown well. There are two ways of accessing Gmaps. The first is through the ios Maps app. This is fast, but limited in functionality. The second is to use the web app from Google. This provides additional functionality, but access is slower.

ICOON
A clever idea. This app consists of a series of stick figure pictures of various subjects, grouped by category. So, for example, if you don't know the local lingo you can call up the "restaurant" pic and show it to the natives. It could be improved with the ability to be able to add your own pics.

Dropbox
A cloud service. Great for storing files and info. Free 2gb, extra space free if your friends accept your invites and sign up. Iphone and desktop.

Dictionary
There are lots of these, for different languages, so I cannot recommend any in particular, but they can be a big help.

Theodolite
This handy app takes a pic of what ever you are pointing at, and overlays geo-coordinates. Thus one has a pic with its location stored on one's phone. Useful, from time to time.

Chapters
This app downloads the pages from wikitravel. Wikitravel, for those who do not know, and you should, if you are travelling, is a wiki for travellers. On the site folk add destinations, info on sights to see, hotels, restaurants and the like. Useful resource.

VegOut
From HappyCow. An app whtich tells you where to find the local vegetarian restaurants. A must for veggies, and for those who are not, but want to improve their diet.

Travel Health
An informative app, that supplies useful info about disease and illness. Things you might involuntarily meet on the road.

TripAdvisor
Info on hotels, destinations, restaurants, things to do, based upon user reviews. Seems aimed at the higher end of the market, but useful.

Xe Currency converter
There are many of these. Xe works well. The trouble is you just never seem to get a good a rate as the app offers from the bank!

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What I don't like or recommend.

Lonely Planet ap
I purchased and downloaded the LP guide to Ho Chi Minh and found it to offer virtually nothing of value. A tiny amount of information, it looked hastily cobbled together. A waste of $6.



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