Mapping Apps Go 3D

Maps 3D combines standard mapping app features with 3D mappinfg reproduction.

There's plenty of choice when it comes to mapping apps these days, but Maps 3D from German developer Movingworld is a bit different in that it shows your track and position on three-dimensional mapping making it much easier to visualise the terrain around you.

The app combines NASA scans of the earth's topography with OpenStreetMap (OSM), open source mapping, to give worldwide coverage, it says here. In addition to that, there are most of the features you'd expect from any well developed mapping software - you can, for example, check your altitude at all times, record and follow a route or track and access a trip computer with elevation, speed profiles and so on.

And because this is the age of social connectivity and armchair mountaineering, the app is also fully integrated with social media like that their Facebook and Twitter, so your mates need never be in doubt over the rugged outdoorsiness of your weekend outings. You can link in images to your route as well.

If the 3D mapping gives you vertigo, you have the option to switch instantly to a 2D version and the app allows you to download and cache a selected area of OSM mapping in advance, so once you're on the hill, you don't need wireless connectivity.

The app occupies 10MB of space on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad and costs £2.99 at the apple App Store, see: itunes.apple.com/gb/app/maps-3d-gps-tracks-for-bike/id391304000?mt=8

Note that while the app name checks bikes, it's equally suitable for walking or running. There's also a Maps 3D Lite version which will give you an idea of how the full app works, but with smaller maps. A quick flick through the full version gives pretty positive first impressions, the 3D reproduction of our local hills is uncanny, teh downloading and tracking options are straightforward in use and cautiously impressed so far.