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Worried about iPhone international roaming charges while traveling abroad, but you want to use the phone’s GPS? Read on.
I’ve had lots of people ask me about using their iPhone when traveling abroad. Specifically, they want to know if the GPS will work without the SIM card installed (yes) or while in Airplane Mode (no).
MotionX GPS updated their iPhone app a while back with an extremely useful feature: The ability to preload a map cache for selected geographic areas. You can also select a range of zoom levels you wish to cache. The interface is as simple as dragging a circle around the area to be cached. You can also drag an oval shape if your travels are more linear-inclined.
Before the update I preloaded map tiles into MotionX GPS by dragging maps around an area of interest in advance of my travels. That wouldn’t be so bad if you didn’t have to repeat the procedure for every zoom level you might want to view while offline. Omissions were inevitable.
Of course as you select closer and closer zoom levels there will be far more tiles to download. The app lets you know how many megabytes you’re downloading and a progress bar lets you know when the cache has been built. You can also delete a cache when you don’t need it anymore.
Cached maps improve performance while online as well, so maybe you’d download your home town. The maps will load faster when they’re already on your iPhone. Note that MotionX GPS works with Google and Bing map tiles but the preload cache feature only works with MotionX’s own maps. The MotionX maps have been fine for Murphy.
Your phone has a button to turn off data roaming, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t use the iPhone for voice or data. Instead of using Airplane Mode while in Toronto I removed my sim card to ensure I wouldn’t be charged international data rates. Airplane Mode turns off the GPS receiver. My hotel wifi connection gave the GPS enough information to get a fast fix on my location and from then on the GPS worked just fine. Without a cellular or indexed wifi connection it could take a very long time for the iPhone GPS to report its location.
Note: Turning on Airplane Mode turns off wifi too, but you can manually turn wifi back on while in Airplane Mode.
MotionX GPS isn’t primarily designed for tourists or finding restaurants. But to find your way around the streets in an unfamiliar city it’s more than adequate. The application is built for biking, hiking, running, etc. But the cache and other features make it useful in many situations. For $2.99 MotionX GPS is easily one of the best paid apps Murphy has purchased.
MotionX GPS ($2.99) has frequently been updated with useful new functionality since I purchased it. They also make a turn-by-turn direction product called Drive that Murphy hasn’t tried yet.
More on MotionX GPS:
Loading Google Directions into MotionX GPS
Intro to MotionX GPS
Murphy's Web Host
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While looking for a way to dump a Google Maps route from my Mac into MotionX GPS I stumbled into a web site called GPS Visualizer. They provided a form for processing a Google Map url, such as a directions page. The output was a GPX file that MotionX GPS could import.
From the beginning: First I went to Google Maps on my Mac and got directions from Point A (apple store 5th ave) to Point B (apple store broadway). Then I clicked on the Link link and copied the text in the link field. In other words, after clicking “Link” at the top right of the map I copied the text from the top field in the pop-up. (image below) 
Optionally, you might want to save the map to your own personal Google Maps before grabbing the link. In my brief experimentation fewer waypoints were dropped into my iPhone if I added that step. When I was done with the route on the iPhone I had to delete the waypoints one by one, so fewer waypoints means less cleanup later.
Here’s a look at the form I filled out on the GPS Visualizer site. I only needed to paste in the link and select GPX as the output format, as indicated.
(Instead of using directions you can use the link from a place on the map, in which case MotionX GPS will import a waypoint)
Once you click Convert on the form above you’ll be given a link to download the GPX file. Check your Downloads folder and make sure the file name ends with .gpx - and fix it if it doesn’t. From there it’s all downhill.
The GPX file is added to your iPhone by email. Send your downloaded file to gpsimport@motionx.com and they’ll reply with a specially created link. Open their email response on your iPhone and tap the link. That’s it, the GPX information is imported into MotionX GPS. You’ll see a new entry on the log page in MotionX GPS and when you open it up you’ll see something like the map included here.
There may be FAR easier ways to accomplish this — if you know one please let me know. But for now thanks to GPS Visualizer for offering a useful service. It looks like their site offers many other forms of conversion and map creation as well.
MotionX GPS is one of my favorite iPhone apps. It’s had many significant updates since I purchased it, highly recommended.
Murphy's Host
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Mrs. Murphy called and said she wanted to download a file from a Mac back home to her Macbook Air on the road. Away from the house I thought for a second about the easiest way to send her the file. I flicked through my iPhone apps and saw a simple solution.
My iPhone has both TouchTerm and Dropbox (syncs a local folder to the cloud) installed. TouchTerm let me ssh into the Mac at the house which was awake and recording a television show. From there a simple copy command let me copy the file into my Dropbox public folder. That was the hardest part.
Once the file copied over I launched the Dropbox app on the iPhone. The file was listed in my Dropbox public folder - allowing me to use the mail-a-link function in the app. Mrs. Murphy got the email, clicked the link to download her file - and she was all set.
Back when Murphy had more time to tinker he came up with far crazier solutions, like Retrieve a File on Your Mac by Email. Which is still great if you’re up against certain firewall restrictions or other obstacles. Better yet, that solution would have worked as soon as the Mac woke up, had it been asleep.
But this solution required far less preparation. I had ssh running on the remote Mac, and Dropbox was installed on both the Mac and my iPhone. That’s it. I could have used the Dropbox web interface instead of the app.
I realize there are other solutions Mrs. Murphy could have used. Logmein. FTP. VNC. Etc. Everyone has their preference, but I found this direct and efficient.
What do you think?
Get Dropbox
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Murphy’s been wondering how Google would implement Latitude on the iPhone - since we all know background apps aren’t allowed. I was sort of expecting Latitude to be part of the native Google Maps application that ships with iPhone and iPod touch. Apple allows certain apps to run in the background, like their own Mail app. Maybe a built-in app could get special treatment.
But that’s not what’s happening. The app is running in Safari. HTML 5 on iPhone 3.0 allows Safari to access location information and publish it via Latitude. The downside: You have to open the page in Safari to share your location. Switch to a different page, close Safari, let your phone lock - any of those result in Latitude not sharing location information anymore.
From Google:
“Because the iPhone and iPod touch don’t allow Safari windows or apps to run in the background or while your device is locked, your location will only be updated when Latitude is in the open, active Safari window.”
and
“Your location will continue to be detected and updated while Latitude is the open, active Safari window and will stop being updated if you switch browser windows, leave Safari, or allow your device screen to lock.”
Not the most useful implementation, not what I was hoping for. Sharing your location is a manual process.
The screenshot above is from this afternoon: Mrs. Murphy’s Blackberry reporting her location on a taxiway at Chicago O’Hare. I’m not a big fan of her particular Blackberry, but it does a decent job with Latitude.
Before this update to Latitude I could open iGoogle on the iPhone and see where Mrs. Murphy was. Roughly. The GPS on her Blackberry takes FOREVER to kick in. So here’s a plus: Now there’s a more convenient place to see Latitude on your iPhone. Without going into iGoogle. You can manage your privacy settings, add friends, etc. And there’s a nice overlay menu with other functions like traffic, directions, and search.
Still, it doesn’t make sense to Murphy as to why it wasn’t implemented as part of Maps. Maybe in a firmware update? iPhone 3.1 must be well underway at this point. TechCrunch reported that Apple leaned on Google and had them go the web app route. Maybe Apple was worried about battery usage for a native app. Maybe a constantly updating app using the GPS would be a much larger drain than something like Pandora. Who knows?
My solution: I pushed the Safari icon back to my last page of apps and added Latitude to my Dock. That will at least update my location now and then without me giving it much thought.
Not sure what all the fuss is about Latitude and privacy. Don’t like Latitude? Don’t use it.
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Motion-X GPS reminds me of a simple map-less handheld Garmin eTrex I once used for running and hiking. The eTrex kept track of my distance and average speed, functioned as a compass when I was moving, and could store waypoints and tracks. Handy, but an extra thing to carry and a little awkward to use.
Motion-X GPS is designed to fill a similar role, but it does so much more. Like the eTrex, the compass lets me navigate to a known waypoint. The eTrex essentially needed a computer to add waypoints, unless you were standing on the spot you wanted to mark. Motion-X has Google Maps built in and you can double-tap a spot to drop a waypoint in. Views include road, satellite and contour maps.
The user interface is one of Motion-X’s main strengths. Functions are laid out in pages, with arrow buttons to slide through the rotation. A very Apple-like function: Hold down an arrow button and a list appears allowing you to jump directly to a page. There are separate pages for maps, compass view, waypoint and track lists, a stopwatch, and GPS status.
There’s a well-designed interface for sharing waypoints, tracks, and photos via Twitter, Email, or Facebook. The application can access your iPhone contacts too.
Motion-X takes advantage of a new iPhone API - adding iTunes controls right inside the application. No need to stop the app (and tracking) to change your playlist. A recent update taps into the iPhone 3GS magnetometer for the compass. There’s still an option to use a GPS-based compass while in motion.
Looking for a GPS application for your car? While Motion-X isn’t intended to provide directions it can still function as a trip computer, providing information like an ETA, average speed, and distance-to-destination.
Like my old eTrex, this application is better applied to outdoor use: biking, hiking, running. You could mark your starting point in a strange city, then wander around adding waypoints for places you’d like to revisit. You can even take photos within the app and store them with waypoints or a track.
Others have already given Motion-X a full review, I’ll leave the details to them. But here are some of my favorite features:
- Great interface including customization options
- Built-in access to iTunes
- Ability to add a waypoint on a map
- Magnetic compass support on iPhone 3GS
- Smart interface for sharing via Twitter, Email or Facebook
- Can store 101 tracks and 303 waypoints
- Comprehensive Google Map integration
There’s a free lite version of Motion-X (iTunes link) that lets you see the features but restricts waypoint storage. It’s well worth a look. The full version (iTunes link) is currently available in the app store for $2.99.
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