iOS 6 World Clock app.

[NovaScotian]

I've just upgraded to iOS 6 and see a new World Clock app. No problem adding my location to the defaults, but it seems super dumb that the clock face icon for the app doesn't actually show the time.

Maps has not been improved; it's much much worse. On several searches I tried it not only came up with the wrong address number but was in a town a substantial distance from the one I searched for. A complete miss. -- I'll stick to Bing's maps via Safari.

[mnewman]

Indeed, the maps app is awful. Even though I have it set to display in English, everything except place names, including streets and POIs is in Thai. I can read Thai, but the font used is tiny, even with labels set to "Large". Very hard to decipher.

Plus, the map accuracy is awful. The local railway station is shown about a kilometer north of where it actually is, across a major highway and far from the displayed railway tracks.

Looks like I will be using MotionX GPS for my map work.

[GavinBKK]

MotionX GPS?

How about a brief review of how it works for the Farang contingent then?

[NaOH]

Quote: Originally Posted by NovaScotian ... I'll stick to Bing's maps via Safari.

I haven't installed iOS 6, but my understanding is that Apple has added a Maps section to the App Store to assist people who are not currently satisfied with the new Maps app as it is. Maybe you want to check out some of those options.

[mnewman]

MotionX GPS turns your iOS device into a full-featured GPSr. It doesn't have built in maps, but it can use Google, Bing and Open Street Maps in several styles. If you are going to be in a place without WiFi or 3G, you can download, in advance, maps of where you are going to be traveling. (I'm diving in the southern Gulf of Thailand next week. I have downloaded Bing Hybrid and OSM terrain maps for most of the ocean between Koh Samui and Songkhla.)

You can record tracks, save waypoints and search for POIs in a variety of sources. You can upload GPX files. When I'm hiking, cycling or diving I usually check out the places in advance using Google Earth, create a KML file full of POIs and/or routes, convert to GPX (using GPS Babel) and then upload to MotionX. Works great.

Drawbacks are that it MotionX GPS sometimes slow to acquire a satellite fix (it does not uses assisted GPS) and it does not do road navigation. For that you can download the sister app GPS Drive.

Versions of both apps are available for iPad and iPhone.

(BTW, I downloaded Microsoft's Bing app for both iPhone and iPad. Oddly the iPhone version has no menu. When you look at the screenshot in the App Store you see a Bing home screen with a search bar and menu items like Images, Videos, Maps, Local, Deals, etc. Not on my iPhone. The iPad version does have these menu items. I still haven't been able to use the Bing iPhone app to look at Bing maps.)

[GavinBKK]

Not universal then. I really don't like the new App Store layout.

[pfhannan]

Which MotionX GPS app are you using, the "Drive" or the "HD" ?

[mnewman]

Quote: Originally Posted by pfhannan Which MotionX GPS app are you using, the "Drive" or the "HD" ?

I actually have both. "Drive" was the first road navigation app I bought. It's good, but I now have the Garmin app for Thailand which is great.

The HD is fine for off-road navigation. I often use it to pre-download maps for areas where I'll have no Internet access. For example, I just did a dive trip in the southern Gulf of Thailand. I used HD to pre-downlaod maps of the area. Worked great.