People sometimes ask why am I using an iPhone instead of an ordinary phone. I then try to explain that an iPhone¹ is much more than a phone, much more than an iPod combined with a phone, and that it, in a way, changed my life. A reply that I usually hear is: ‘well, you’re saying it’s so great, but I live without one and I’m good’. True, it’s not a device you can’t live without, but it certainly is a very, very useful one. As probably all of you know, the biggest strength of the iPhone (or the whole iOS) are its apps, and I just wanted to mention one pretty app today; one that I could probably live without, but at the same time one that makes my life much easier.

It’s called CityMaps2Go, developed by Ulmon, and it’s an offline map application. It costs $1,99², which is equivalent to roughly nothing in Norway. Here’s how it works: you download a map of the place of your interest prior to going offline, and once it’s downloaded you’re free to browse it without paying for data transfer.

The app uses OpenStreetMap as its map supplier, and it doesn’t have all the maps available for offline use. The database is growing every week, but the quality of the maps depends on how well certain areas are covered by OpenStreetMap. For example, my town, Bergen, is covered remarkably well. The map includes hiking paths deep in the woods, is very precise and pretty big (i.e. covers some areas outside the city limits). On the other hand, during my stay in Taipei last week, it turned out that the street at which my hotel was, was not on the map (hence I stayed nowhere). But as I already mentioned: the maps keep getting better. Do check the coverage of your area at OpenStreetMap’s website before buying the app, though.

One other problem with CityMaps2Go is that, in contrast to Google Maps, it does not allow to search street names, so if you have no clue whatsoever where some place is, you’re going to have a hard time finding it.

Ok, for some weird reason I didn’t know you could actually search for street names and places until my girlfriend Karolina pointed it out to me while reading a draft of this post. So yes, you can search everything you want.

Also, the new version introduced vector maps, which give a more detailed view, but also zoom in/out much slower than previously.

Still, despite all these small flaws, CityMaps2Go really is a lifesaver. If you travel a lot to other countries, you really don’t want to pay roaming fees for data transfer (which are horrendous in Europe), and it’s way more comfortable to use an app like that rather than an ordinary map.