AroundMe [App Store link] has always been a must have app for my iPhone. Now it has been updated to make it even better. Since it's free, having it on your phone is a no-brainer.

In this latest edition you can chose a category of places, e.g., restaurants, hospitals, supermarkets and so on. You then get the usual list of destinations closest to you, along with a web site if one exists, and a phone number.

If you click on the map button, you'll get a split screen with a map showing the closest 4 destinations, along with your current location. In the lower half of the screen, you get the usual list of the closest locations. This new feature is really helpful in visualizing where your destinations are, as the closest might not always be the most desirable. The 'nearby' function allows you to link to Wikipedia entries for things around you like museums or historical sites.

AroundMe runs on the iPhone and iPod touch, and requires iPhone software version 2.2 or greater. It supports English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.

There are other apps that have similar functions, but I keep coming back to AroundMe because it is fast, is usually very up to date via Google info, and is easy to use.