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Wandering London With Your iPhone
By Dave Peterson | October 16, 2008
London is one of my favorite cities, but it can be daunting to those unfamiliar with the various districts and how to get around using the excellent underground transit system (”the tube”). I’ve been playing around with a nice little mini-guidebook app called London Envi, which spotlights 50 popular points of interest and their surroundings, and I’m fairly impressed.
The software is based on the book “Michael Brein’s Guide to London”. For each point of interest, the guide gives a short description (including phone number), a local area map showing the streets around the featured destination and the route from nearest tube station (if in an area served by the underground), a detail of the familiar London tube map to put the neighborhood in context, and a photo of the destination you’ll be seeking. In addition to the 50 primary points of interest, many of the neighborhood maps also include a few secondary attractions. Coordinates of the destinations can be sent to the Maps application if you think you’re close but need a little GPS help (or just want a bit more detail).
A highly useful bonus is an overall map of the tube system, scrollable and zoomable using the familiar conventions of the iPhone touchscreen and accelerometer. For a scant $1.99, this is a handy little virtual guidebook for anyone wanting to make their way around the city, but preferring not to carry a printed map.
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