iPhone 3GS

which GPS app? I'm not aware of an official Apple GPS kit.

I use iTopoMaps and I love it. Be sure to d/l all the quads you'll need for your trip and SAVE the battery life for emergency use, but man, it works and it works great.

LOTS cheaper than other options.

Not sure what app you are talking about. It can do maps out of the box.

The specific app I'm referring to is the "iphone GPS kit" for $9.99. I believe the maker is Garafa, LLC.

Does the iphone work with satellite or phone reception? In other words, would the gps/internet work if you are in the middle of nowhere?

I have no idea about the box program, but I can speak to iTopoMaps.

When heading off for a trip into the wilderness you download the USGS quads for the area you are going to, and you can access those anywhere without cell phone reception. Since the GPS is not based on cell-phone reception on the iPhone 3GS, the GPS will work as long as you have a clear view of the sky (just like any other GPS). If you do have cell phone reception you can view topo for any quad even if you haven't downloaded the quad to your phone.

Seems easy enough to master as you can d/l enough quads that even if you wander far from your route, you'll still have access to your location.

Evan,

The included maps are street maps only. For topo maps, you need a 3rd party app. I've tried four of the 3rd party apps and also like iTopoMaps the best.

In the past, if I had to change my trip plans last minute, I had to hope I was close enough to home to sync whatever maps I needed off the computer. With the iPhone, I can pull up to a trailhead, find out it's closed, and if I have cell phone reception en route to the next trailhead, I can get the new maps. Or, with so much built-in memory, I can just download an entire region of topo maps and be good to go.

iTopoMaps makes it very clear which topo maps you've downloaded for offline viewing, which is important for trip planning.

It looks like to enable GPS tracking on your iphone 3gs you need to pay an additional $40 (or $45) every month. That's a bummer.

There is no 40 dollar a month charge for GPS with the iPhone 3GS. It comes standard and costs nothing extra.

Not sure where you got that from.

There is not a monthly fee for gps on the iPhone

Some of the mobile phone carriers charge to use their navigation services. AT&T charges $10 a month for their navigation software, but the you can use the gps without needing AT&T’s software. Or you can buy a competing navigation app that is a one time fee.

As others have said… using GPS doesn't require any additional fees. You do have to pay for for apps. Some apps also include a monthly fee for things like access to real-time traffic info…. but there are better things for back country use.

A one time $10 for iTopoMaps with it's ability to download quad maps for free is quite a good value. [Download the quads you want BEFORE leaving on the trip.] The GPS works without being able to reach a cell site, but you have to leave the radio on (can't put the phone into airplane mode to save batteries).

I was able to get 2.5 day of use from my second generation iPhone as a GPS device. During most of the day the radio was running and I would periodically check the map / GPS location. When I was done hiking I did a full power off to save batteries.

This was one of those times I was glad for redundent gear. I dropped my map and backtracking a modest distance didn't find it (I was going cross country so I couldn't be sure it was a perfect backtrack). I decided that the combination of my memory and the quad maps on my iPhone would be good enough… and it was. Normally I use the iPhone as an ebook reader and a audio notebook. This time it became my map and I didn't read books at night to protect the batteries.

BTW: I found the quad maps + GPS north of Tuolumne Meadows was pretty good but not spot on. In some locations it seems perfect, but there were several times where the indication of my position as compare to the geological formations on the iphone were off by a noticable margin (maybe 1k ft in the worse case).

–Mark

I talked to the dealer and he told me that the extra cost is for the assisted gps as you are driving to let you know when and where to turn.

he also told me that if I don't have cell reception or wi-fi, I wouldn't be able to use the gps feature. I guess I will have to give it a try.

I just got my I phon 3gs 30 min ago :P