➜ App description
iMaps+ brings Google Maps, Directions and Street View back to your iOS6 iPhone or iPad. Powered by Google's Vector SDK, iMaps+ boasts quick load times, automatic caching of viewed areas and easy access to street view.
Features:
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- Quickly switch between road, satellite, hybrid and terrain maps.
- Access street view from a dropped pin, search result or bookmarked location. Alternatively, drag the peg-man from the top left of the screen as per Google Maps on a desktop.
- Search by address or query (eg 'London, UK' or 'Restaurants in New York').
- Get step by step driving, cycling, walking and public transport directions. Choose to avoid highways or tolls and select from a number of alternative routes.
- Viewed areas are automatically cached for offline access.
- Swipe up and down to tilt the map and access 3D views in main cities around the world.
- Live traffic overlay.
- Use addresses from your contacts.
- Get suggestions as you type for search and directions.
- Track your current location.
- Press and hold to drop a pin anywhere on the map.
- Bookmark important locations for quick access.
Notes:
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Directions, street view and live traffic details are only available in certain geographical regions.
iMaps+ is in no way associated with Google or the official Google Maps application.
➜ What's new in version 2.1
iMaps+ v2.1 now uses the Google Maps Vector SDK. The update brings the following great improvements:
New Features
- The map can now be rotated and tilted (two finger swipe up or down).
- Viewed areas are now automatically cached for offline access.
- Detailed location information including official websites, telephone numbers, opening hours, user photos and reviews can be seen for search results.
- Radar Search : Click the radar next to the map mode selector to locate on-screen places of interest. These include restaurants, petrol stations, post offices and more.
- Share locations via Facebook, Twitter, Email, SMS or by copying a link.
- You can now track your heading as well as location. Tap the current location button once to track your location or twice to track both location and heading.
- Swipe horizontally over popovers to move between direction steps and search results.
- Slightly updated directions display.
- A compass now shows in the top left hand corner of the map. It indicates the north direction of the map and can be tapped to reset map rotation. In heading tracking mode, the compass points to the real-world north.
Bug Fixes
- Clicking the current location button will no longer zoom you out to a fixed zoom level.
- Directions can be cleared from a cross in the popover above the final pin (purple balloon).
- The help screen is now accessible from a dedicated button in the navigation/tool bar. Choose to have directions reported in miles from the help screen or main settings app.
- Clicking off of the current location marker to hide the popover does not disengage tracking (a scrolling motion still deactivates tracking).
- The map mode selector is now less fiddly.
- Fix for the compass orientation appearing 90 degrees out when in landscape.
- Fix for the search field appearing distorted in landscape.
- Fix for the map randomly scrolling diagonally.
- Improved performance and reduced network usage.
Changes
Unfortunately, changing to the vector SDK has required the removal of the dedicated public transport layer (train stations, bus stops etc. still appear but the optional layer showing lines between them has been removed). This layer will be re-added as soon as it is possible to do so.
Known Issues
Street View Distortion When Zoomed Fully Out:
Google's images are distorted due to the use of wide angle cameras. Warping the images onto a sphere removes the distortion but severely reduces performance rendering street view unusable. When WebGL support is added to iOS, it will be possible to warp the images without impacting performance but in the meantime, note that the effect is much less noticeable when zoomed in.
Remember to leave a review if you enjoy the update and report any bugs or feature requests to help.imaps@gmail.com
