Folks who say the iPhone 3G is a just a minor upgrade to last year’s model generally dismiss the GPS feature as nearly worthless.
It doesn’t even give turn-by-turn directions or reroute you when you go off course, they say.
Very true, I respond, before mentioning that several turn-by-turn programs will hit the App Store soon. The first of these should be robust enough to replace your traditional, stand-alone GPS. The ones that follow will take advantage of the iPhone’s Internet connection — and its other programs — to do things regular GPS devices cannot dream of.
For example, because all iPhones are connected to the Internet all the time and because there will be millions of them on the road, it would be easy to use them to get accurate information about current traffic speeds on EVERY road, not just major highways.
Internet connectivity can also work with your GPS to provide info about what houses are for sale in a neighborhood you’re driving through or where the cheapest gas it today. It also allows for maps inside the device to be constantly updated as new roads appear.
But that’s not all.
Because your GPS resides on the same machine as your calendar, programs will look at your appointments, figure out how long it will take to get there and notify you when you have to leave. If a traffic jam pops up, the program will tell you to leave early.
The iPhone isn’t the only machine that tries to tie GPS to the Internet. The Dash GPS system that Victor has been testing offers many of these features already. Expect more and more devices — including phones that run on Google’s Android OS — to do meld GPS and Internet.
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