Wide Maps is a $0.99 iPhone app that makes the iPhone Maps app more useful. It can greatly enhance the way you interact with it.
Wide Maps makes searching for businesses, places of interest very easy from inside the Maps apps. Here are some of the things you can do with Wide Maps
- You can view the map in landscape mode or portrait mode – hence the name Wide Maps
- You can locate where you are and also drop pins anywhere in the map
- You can search anywhere on the map by dropping a pin
- Press and hold a pin to drag and move it around the map to change the search location
- Once moved, it retrieves the full address of the position in the map
- You can bookmark the person pin location or email it to yourself or any of your contacts
- You get the standard, satellite or the hybrid view
- You get multiple search views as well as the ability to combine multiple search results in the map
- You get to view the search result in a built in web browser and never leave the app
- Use a zoom slider to zoom in and out of the map
- You just double tap to zoom in and do a two finger tap to zoom out
As you can see Wide Maps looks pretty innocuous at first glance but it is chock full of surprises. It features many usability improvements over the standard Maps application. It took me a bit of getting used to but I have learned to like this app a lot especially when I am looking for places. This app’s search results were lightning fast and it brought up store results fast.
I shoot in a pool league around town and i have started bookmarking different bar addresses with Wide Maps and use it when I need it. It beats looking up the address and trying to find it in the Map every time.
It would be a native Maps app complete replacement if it did routes as well but that is missing. May be the map isn’t supposed to be a replacement for the native Maps app but just to be a supplement at times when you need landscape mode or if you repeatedly do one of the things this app can do day in and day out.
I give it a 4 as the search results weren’t that accurate at times. But, I’d say it is still definitely worth the $0.99 it costs.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Availability: App Store [iTunes link]
Price: $0.99
