Daily iPhone App: View Seeker Location Scout: a handy tool for iPhone photographers
View Seeker Location Scout is a handy US$0.99 photo app that can help you find the best locations for landscape photography. You can get all the best locations around you with a click, which the app does by sourcing images from Panoramio and Flickr.
Once you find a spot you like it appears on a map, and then provides driving or walking directions via a link to Apple Maps. The app also provides sunrise/sunset times, and allows you to save locations you like. You can select any place in the world as your "target" if you are planning a trip, and call up the location information later when you get to your destination.
The app worked as expected when I tested it here in southern Arizona, and some other favorite out-of-state places. I found the Panoramio images generally looked better, but usually there were more images from Flickr.
Other than a few spelling errors in locations, the app is pretty clean. I wish View Seeker Location Scout allowed me to query Panoramio and Flickr at the same time. As it is, you have to set one or the other in preferences, but you can easily change back and forth. It's better to give the user the option of both.
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The app has some similarities to Stuck On Earth, which is iPad-only. Stuck On Earth displays photos taken at chosen locations, provides a map, and lets you save your finds. It's a great app, but better for planning than using in the field simply because View Seeker fits in my pocket.
View Seeker is a worthwhile app for photographers looking for that perfect or out of the way spot to take a striking photo. It's a bargain for a buck. The non-universal app is optimized for the iPhone 5 and requires iOS 5.0 or greater.
