Ariadne GPS

What's New in Version 4.0.1

1. Translation improvements;2. Small accessibility issue fixed;3. Keyboard Done button label changed in Edit view;4. Minor bug fixes. 

Now that there are so many other navigation apps, I believe users might be overlooking some of Ariadne's more unique features.

First, the manual is well worth reading. The newest one is here:
http://www.ariadnegps.eu/app/ariadne_manual.html

Curiously, I could not find it linked from their website but had to google for it. This manual is comprehensive, and the best way to fully utilize the app is to read a section and then try it out. Do this over a period of days, and you will be a master of all its features.

For me, two things make it particularly useful. First, if I don't have an internet connection I can still use it. I can still tell where any Favorite is located in relation to my current location. I can learn that the fitness center is ten yards away at five o'clock and that the grocery store is nine miles away at seven o'clock. It works with both my iPOD Touch using an external GPS and my iPHONE with its built-in GPS.

Second, each favorite can be individually customized. Most customizations are part of the Favorites center, an in-app purchase which is worth the money. You can set a Favorite's triggering distance. For example, it can tell you when the library is 200 yards away, the bank is 100 yards away and not trigger on your home until you are only ten yards away. This makes it flexible for pedestrian, public transportation and highway driving.

In customizing a favorite, you can also set which sound will play when it's triggered. There are presets that include the distance and sound, so you can simply apply the "train" preset to all stops you've marked as favorites during a rail journey. You can also activate a favorite, or de-activate it. When it's inactive, it's still there in the Favorites list but it will not fire automatically.

Any location can be a Favorite, regardless of whether it's geocoded or not. That is unlike some apps whose points of interest are address-dependent: you can set the restroom at a public park as a Favorite, and on the large college campus where I work, I've set many of the fountains as favorites. This way when I pass a fountain, I know exactly where I am.

And if I get lost and I am in front of a different fountain, and I want to get back to the fountain by the cafeteria, I can ask Ariadne to tell me exactly where I am located in reference to any other favorite.

Many other features, like the ability to explore the map with your finger, the automatic monitoring of your location while you walk or ride and the ability to search for different points of interest from google maps are also quite useful, but they have been discussed in other forum and app directory posts.

There is one other unique feature to Favorites I'd like to discuss. You don't want to type a novel while you are out walking or while the bus is passing a transfer station. So Ariadne has features that accommodate the need for speed.

Ariadne lets you long press on the Add to Favorites button to quickly add one. You won't get the screen to enter details; the favorite will simply be created. If the internet is available, the address will automatically be its description. If not, you still have the coordinates.

If you create a favorite in the usual way, by tapping on the "Add To Favorites" button and you enter something quick like "stairs", you can return later to edit that favorite, possibly expanding its description to indicate where the stairs lead. If you create some favorites with the long press (using VO it's double-tap and hold) and you need to add addresses later, that's also easy to do. And if the internet was available, and the address is wrong, or you want something other than the address as its description, that too is easy to edit.

The campus where I work is 112 acres and they all geocode to the same address. So each time I create a favorite on campus, the college address is filled in as part of the description. I simply rotor over to Edit, select all, and press Delete. Then I type in or ask Siri to enter a new description. The address will still be part of the Favorite, if for some reason I need it. And if Siri jumbles my description, I can fix it later without a hassle.

I really like that I can create these Favorites on the fly and later, edit them at my desk with air conditioning, a quiet environment and a Braille display!

If I have one complaint, it's that I can't back these favorites up. With Seeing Assistant Move, I can export a copy to Dropbox. But with Move I don't have the customization of individual points.

Hi.

I've been hearing a lot of good things about this app. However, I don't know if I want to spend more money on GPS apps. What's the difference between this and BlindSquare? Is this just another turn by turn direction app like Google maps with environment annnouncements like BlindSquare? If so, I will continue to use BlindSquare and something like Google Maps. I'm just trying to figure out if it's worth it to buy this.