OpenMaps Pro review

We review OpenMaps Pro, a Google Maps alternative for iPhone that adds a social networking element to your GPS activities

It can’t be easy for any navigation apps to gain much of a foothold on the App Store, considering Google Maps is so damn useful and integrated so tightly within the iPhone’s firmware. For most every basic navigational purpose, GMaps is the quickest, simplest and most effective answer.

Now, OpenMaps is probably sick of being known as “the other Google Maps,” but there really is no better description. The OpenMaps Pro application delivers these maps directly to your iPhone screen as a direct contender to Google, but throws a few extra features to justify its price tag. And it undeniably succeeds.

At its core, this is still a vector-based street-level map system, and looks and operates much as you’re used to with the iPhone’s native nav-app. It quickly differentiates itself with one particular option, however, as it’s able to run offline. Naturally this is more important to iPod touch users than iPhoners, but it’s still potentially valuable for any device.

The GPS locator and compass are included to determine which parts, and how you view, the map, and are essential aspects of finding out just where you are in the world and how to get where you’re going. The route planner backs this up, by offering car, cycle or on-foot directions. Additional stopping points or locations can be added to the route, and specific locations can be bookmarked for future use.

OpenMaps Pro also lifts itself out of Google Maps’ shadow by way of a social networking element. The maps can be populated with all kinds of information local to your current position, handing out details on nearby facilities, but also on nearby people.

Twitter is tightly integrated to show off geotagged Tweets, so you can even get a satellite view of conversations going on around you. This is a two-way street, of course, and you can micro-blog about where you are, where you’re going, and what’s happening in your immediate vicinity.

If Google Maps doesn’t quite cut it for you, or you’re interested in sending out digital information about your online and real-world presence, OpenMaps Pro was designed just for you. There’s a free version so you can test it out, but if any of the app’s unique features have caught your eye, it should be an easy decision as whether or not to go pro.

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