Filed under: Cool tools, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
AroundMe shows what's around you
There is no shortage of iPhone/touch apps that allow you to use the navigation capabilities of your device to figure out where you are or where you need to go. Google Maps, already built in, does a great job all by itself.Increasingly, there are many paid and free apps that can do the job in a simpler, more specialized, or more efficient way. One of the highly praised and heavily downloaded apps is AroundMe, which can show you nearby restaurants, hotels, theaters, parking, hospitals and much more.
If you have GPS, or wi-fi location ability activated, AroundMe will take it from there. Click on a category, and you'll get a list of destinations arranged by distance. Click on a destination, and you can get an address, the distance, a link to Google Maps to show you the route, a button to add the destination to contacts, and if there is one, an email address for the place you're headed.
There is also a category of searches called 'nearby' that can identify nearby cities, parks, geographical locations, airports and attractions. Those destinations link to appropriate Wikipedia entries. Cool.
All in all this is a terrific, free app. While it has many competitors, some free, some paid, I think this is a very powerful way to use your iPhone when you are on a trip, or even in your home town to locate things you might never have known were there.
AroundMe is localized in English, French, German, Portuguese, Swedish and Japanese.
Things that would be nice to add would be some form of filtering, such as type of cuisine rather than just restaurants, or animal hospitals instead of all hospitals.
I use AroundMe several times a week because like all good apps, 'it just works'.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
David J said 7:05AM on 12-29-2008
I live in the UK and I downloaded this a couple of weeks ago. It works very very well over here!
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itadmin said 7:56AM on 12-29-2008
this is a great App. I love it
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martin said 8:37AM on 12-29-2008
a must have.
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Raphael said 8:47AM on 12-29-2008
Funny how so many people use the Swiss flag instead of the red cross emblem to symbolize healthcare services…
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Bruce Elgort said 9:03AM on 12-29-2008
Great little app! Just downloaded it and it seems to work.
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Tiziano Dal betto said 10:01AM on 12-29-2008
"AroundMe is localized in English, French, German, Portuguese, Swedish and Japanese."
It's localized in Italian too... AroundMe is an Italian app by Marco Pifferi... ;-)
@Raphael: funny! It's true...
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Dave T said 11:59AM on 12-29-2008
For those in the US, I've found the app called ManGo to be just as useful, if not more than AroundMe. The main difference between the two is that ManGo has lists of restaurants, super markets, banks, etc. I find this helpful over AroundMe because I can select a particular restaurant I want and it will show me on a map all the places where it can be found in my area. (You'd be amazed how many McDonalds there are in New York.) The only con is that the list does not have every single place you would want to find on there. While it has a list of 210 or so places, it's only been updated once. It would also be nice if it could integrate the feature of AroundMe because sometimes you just want a list of places, and not a particular chain of bank/restaurant/store.
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JaCoder said 12:38PM on 12-29-2008
This is nice. It become my essential. :-)
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Byran Newell said 12:57PM on 12-29-2008
I'm actually a super fan of iWant. And it filters. And it's free. Granted, I haven't used AroundMe, but iWant is really, really good.
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zeero said 1:16PM on 12-29-2008
These apps would be awesome if they allowed you to add and/or subtract categories. Since they don't - they are worthless. Deleted.
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JR said 2:22PM on 12-29-2008
I tried this app a month or so ago and... maybe it's because I live in an unincorporated area, but it did not work well at all. It was giving me stuff 30 miles away and telling me it was just a few miles.
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KRAPPS said 2:44PM on 12-29-2008
Downloaded and it works great ... certainly not KRAPPS ... bravo to the developers for this useful release and making it free!
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Craig said 2:59PM on 12-29-2008
Locly is another good contender. While it has all the Point Of Interest data too, I use it for local Twitters, Flickr photos, Wikipedia articles and Events. I like them because they change rather than the restaurants and banks that are pretty stable in my town.
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oakie said 5:32PM on 12-29-2008
i use this almost daily since i recently moved to las vegas from seattle. it's a very powerful application but boiled down into the most simple interface that encourages its use. because it's so fast and simple, i find myself using it more than any other like Yelp.
another app with a similar, easy to use interface is CitySearch. much like AroundMe, it adds in Yelp-like user and professional reviews but is delivered in an uncluttered interface that's easy to navigate and use. Unlike Yelp, it focuses on professional reviews to help you make a decision on a place with its limited space... no digging 4 levels deep through comments by incompetent user reviewers.
despite a large screen with solid navigation qualities, simple, straightforward apps are always best especially for use on-the-go when you need just a little help in making a decision, ways to contact, and getting you there. there's no needless complexity to these apps and therefore appeal to the masses. great stuff!
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mark said 12:11AM on 12-30-2008
Despite it's 1/2-star-lower rating, I think Vicinity is better. Aside from restaurants and services, it gives you Wikipedia, Flickr, and Panoramio entries for your current location.
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mikull said 2:16AM on 12-30-2008
I live in NYC. It leaves A LOT out... banks, major stores, restaurants -- all missing. I guess it's good if you don't know what you're missing, but I could have drive 2 blocks before this app sent me 5 miles into Jersey for a store. If you can't get NYC right, well... deleted.
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