GPS Kit review

We review GPS Kit, an iPhone navigation app that covers your entire life, as well as the world you live in

GPS always seemed like such a serious matter, focusing on precision and data and statistics. Possibly because it originated with the military, but few software developers have ever had much fun with it. Admittedly, there are plenty of games now that make use of location services, and social networking has made decent, frivolous use of GPS info.

But GPS Kit manages to do both. It’s not a game – not by a long shot – but neither does it take the matter of global positioning with deathly seriousness. It provides, quite frankly, an epic magnitude of locational information, but it also acknowledges that you’re receiving that data through an iPhone, and makes sure you can enjoy yourself as well as find your way around.

GPS Kit encompasses everything to do with GPS in a single app. And that’s a lot of satellite transmission to shoehorn into one piece of software, especially when you consider that much of it is already covered by native iPhone apps.

Looking at the maps first, GPS Kit immediately shows how flexible it can be. You can choose from nine different map sources, and a variety of different map types. Cycling and terrain maps, alongside street and satellite, prove this isn’t just a car navigation app – it’s just as useful when going off road. Bolstered by offline maps, it makes the native Google Maps feel very limited indeed.

A host of tools are also included when viewing the maps, such as a simple drag-and-drop measuring device, unlimited pins, a very smooth compass arrow, notes, geo-tagged photos and more. It also shows your exact location by way of standardised co-ordinates, which can be easily switched between the different formats. Any geocachers out there who’ve solved a cache puzzle, only to find their app doesn’t allow them to input a certain type of co-ordinates, will find this small feature to be incredibly valuable.

If it’s statistical information about your location that you’re after, there’s little that GPS Kit doesn’t offer. The current time (taken from the satellite transmission), your current speed, accuracy of the GPS reception, an odometer, compass point direction and more are all neatly and actively presented on the dashboard page.

There’s a lot more data collected, stored and available when it comes to where you’ve been and where you’re going, too, so as much as GPS Kit keeps things accessible and light, it’s still got the muscle to cater for the professional GPS user.

Which brings us to the lighter side of GPS Kit. There’s a significant social networking side to the app, with quick, single button access to Twitter and Facebook should you want to share your current location, geo-tagged photos or any other satellite data about your current situation.

This also gives you access to something of a community overview, with friends and fellow GPS users (and their tagged content) overlaid onto the map. A proximity based chat system is also included, giving you two way texting between nearby GPS Kit users, or you can select a specific channel if you want a private chat with someone specific.

There’s still a lot more that’s gone unsaid about GPS Kit epic amount of functionality, making it quite entertaining just fettling around the app discovering what you can do and learn from the satellites overhead. It’s certainly not the cheapest app, but it undeniably earns its money, and given the level of available customisation, it’ll prove just as valuable to the serious navigator as it does to the location-aware social networker.

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