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My 5 favorite apps for holiday travel
Yes, it's that time of year again. Travel by car, plane and train. New places to visit, with lots of places to locate, for shopping, dining, sightseeing and (I hope not) emergency facilities. In this post, I'll describe my favorite travel apps. My first choice for turn-by-turn navigation is Navigon. (Navigon USA is US$32.99.) Navigon stores maps locally, so travel between cities guarantees me good data. Google local search is available for complete destination information, and Google Street View shows what my destination will actually look like. I added the 3D Panorama view as an extra add-on because I like to see the mountains, and I added live traffic and USA speed cameras. I do think Apple Maps has improved greatly, and I love that I can ask for a destination with Siri, but Navigon is still my favorite for finding a distant or a local destination. Navigon also integrates Glympse. More about Glympse later. When I've arrived at my destination, and want to find out what is worth visiting, I'm very happy with Where To? This $2.99 app has an extensive database of points of interest, and includes crowdsourced ratings. Locations can be saved to your contacts, and shared via email, Twitter or Facebook. The app also knows what navigation apps you have, so you can send your destination to Navigon, Apple Maps, Google Maps and several other similar apps. That's a great idea. Ok, now to talk about Glympse. Glympse (free) sends alerts to those awaiting your arrival as you travel. They can view a real-time map that shows your location and estimates when you will arrive. It beats constant calling or sending texts. A Glympse can be sent to a smartphone or a computer. Lately, the Glympse GUI has regressed in ease of use with click and slide actions, which are frustrating some people, but Glympse does what it does very well, and I use it almost weekly. Even when I am meeting someone for lunch or dinner, it's great to let them know when I'll get there. Travel by air is surely not as fun as it used to be, but it's made easier by using Flight+ ($3.99). I can track any flight in the world, easily search for flights a variety of ways, see detailed gate and time information and see seat maps of any plane I'm going on. Flights can be traced via a detailed map, and there is detailed weather information for my destinations. Flight+ provides alerts for time changes, as well as gate and terminal changes. It also gives me Departure and Arrival reminders, which is handy if I am picking someone up at the airport. Finally, I frequently use Gate Guru. This free app also contains flight notifications, but is most useful at the airport when looking for a specific restaurant or service. The app contains 35,000 reviews of airport food, and TSA security wait time estimates. It also contains weather, and you can book a rental car at the last minute if you need to. I don't do any travel by train, so I have no favorites, but people who do are impressed with Roadify Transit. It covers buses, subways, trains, bikes and ferries. The app offers walking directions, real-time service advisories, and it covers public transportation in many US cities. The app is free. Holiday travel can be a challenge, and sometimes frustrating. These apps are my favorites for reducing holiday travel stress. Have a safe trip, and don't forget to keep checking TUAW when you are on the road.
GateGuru for iPhone has been updated and greatly improved
I've been a fan of GateGuru since I first tried it in 2010. It's a travel app for the iPhone that provides a plethora of information of flights, airlines and airports. It's great having all of that in your pocket. Version 4.0 fixes some problems and makes GateGuru even better. Version 3 was nice, but had nagging problems. For example, it required me to enter flight details, even when that's not the information I was after. For example, sometimes I simply want to review the amenities that are available at a certain airport. GateGuru 3 needed flight info before sharing that data. With version 4, released today, all is forgiven. The free app now allows you to browse airport information with no restrictions. The entire app has been redesigned and it looks very modern. Plus, the amount of tapping has been reduced when you navigate, and all your travel information is on one screen. GateGuru excels at travel info, including airport weather, terminal and gate arrival and departure info, and real-time flight information with optional push alerts for flight status. The app also provides estimated TSA waiting times, and reviews of airport food, location of ATMs and rental car information with some discounted rates for GateGuru users. %Gallery-186907% I have one mild complaint. GateGuru caters to the traveler, and not the person who's simply doing the pickup. Yes, you can get the information on arrival times, but it's not really the purpose of the app. I prefer Flight+ which is a bit more agnostic on whether you are the traveler or the transportation. I'd like to see GateGuru add travel times to the airport based on local real-time traffic info, and travel / traffic time to a particular address like a hotel or convention center. Still, GateGuru is an absolutely indispensable app for those traveling by air, especially since so much of air travel involves sitting at airports. This new version is one of the most improved apps I've seen this year. If you travel, I heartily recommend adding it to your iPhone's travel folder.
GateGuru gets an update for holiday travel
GateGuru has updated the popular travel app to version 3 today, just in time (almost) for Thanksgiving travelers. The app started as a guide to airports, with information on gates, maps of the concourses and even reviews of the shops and restaurants. Now the app has the ability to reserve rental cars at reduced rates, improved flight status and push notifications, and flights can be added up to a year before you depart. The GUI has been updated as well. It looks like a solid update, but it has generated some knocks from users because you have to specify your flights before you can see all the details of airports. I think these are valid criticisms. You may well want some of that treasure trove of information without having a specific trip set up. Of course you can always fake it, but it seems a roundabout method. I'll bet that "feature" will change back to the prior way of doing things rather quickly. Still, GateGuru is a very worthwhile app, and if you're stuck at the airport now or on the way, check your phone for the update or get it from the app store if you don't have it already. The app requires iOS 6 or later, and it's optimized for the iPhone 5. %Gallery-171597%
GateGuru is free and just in time for holiday travelers
I love finding useful free apps. Today I'll steer you to GateGuru, a free app that will help you navigate airport terminals and find food, ATMs, conference rooms and shops. The app was featured in an iPhone TV ad earlier this year, and it has been updated since then with some new features and bug fixes. GateGuru starts by locating the nearest airports via GPS (U.S. and Canada only, unfortunately). You can also type in an airport's three-letter identifier code or city name. Once your airport is identified, you can select the main terminal or a particular concourse. You'll get a map and a list of what's there, be it food, shops, or services like shoe shine stands or free Wi-Fi. You also get user-supplied ratings of shops and restaurants. Sometimes there are photos as well. This is all pretty handy, especially if you are in an unfamiliar airport. You can also add your own photos and reviews. %Gallery-108428%
New iPhone ad: Family Travel
If you've been watching TV over the last few days (and who hasn't, with that USA / Canada hockey game and the tsunami coverage), you may have seen the latest in the series of iPhone ads. The ad, titled "Family Travel," features a voice-over by a Mom who gushes that "It's unbelievable how much better family trips have gotten..." as she demonstrates using the Southwest Airlines app to check in on a flight from Denver to LA, finds a restaurant for the family (Heidi's Brooklyn Deli) in the C concourse at Denver International Airport with Gate Guru, makes sure that she has entertainment for her kids in the form of "Finding Nemo" loaded in the iPod app, and then turns off the living room lights at home with the Schlage Link app. For those of you who are sticklers for advertising accuracy, note that Southwest flight 1403 is not an actual SWA flight between DEN and LAX and that the restaurant list for Concourse C at Denver International Airport is actually a mashup of restaurants located throughout Denver International Airport. All of the apps are free, although Schlage Link does require a monthly subscription and appropriate Z-Link hardware on the home front (similar to the Christmas tree ad from the holidays).
