Friday tips for iPhone users -- GPS is for kids (and other passengers)

I am still a fan of paper maps for navigating in the car (are you, too?). I have used our standalone GPS device, but the GPS lady is always recalculating and I never can get a good mental map of where we are. So, when I discovered the standard GPS app on my iPhone, I wasn’t so sure I would use it. Then, our five-year-old figured out that if you push the little arrow in the bottom left corner, the GPS app locates you as a blue dot on the map, and you can watch your dot move along the streets as you move, even if you are just walking. Along with the compass, this has become a great entertainer for the kids…and me.

OK, maybe it's helpful

It turns out that I like the iPhone GPS app for a few other reasons as well. You can quickly zoom in and out to get a better picture of where you are going, you can search for a gas station or restaurant (we haven’t bought the updates for our standalone GPS so having this ability on our iPhones is quite handy), and—this is the best part—the iPhone GPS app can show you real-time traffic data. We have used this on long drives and found it to be quite accurate. 

Things I don't like about the iPhone GPS app

The things I don’t like about the iPhone GPS app are 1) If you want to change route or see how far you have gone, you need to re-start your route (choose to edit directions and click “route” anew), 2) Unlike a standalone GPS, you need to keep touching the screen to see it unless you change your default auto-lock settings (and, if you use a password and your phone has auto-locked already, you will need to enter a password just to glance at your map) so it is dangerous for the driver to use unless the car is stopped--but maybe Siri will change that in the new 4S phone, and 3) it drains my battery like no other app on my device (I always make double-sure to bring a car charger if I plan to use the iPhone GPS app). 

After your passenger checks the traffic on your iPhone GPS app, you may want to glance over (safely) to see who they might be dunking. It could be you! At the next rest stop, be sure to use SoDunked! to dunk them back.