Portable topo maps... iPhone

[John Doe]

If what I see is what I will get, this is looking very interesting for
urban navigation. Personally, I think hills suck for in-line skating. At
least knowing what is upcoming would be fun. There appears to be some
reasonably well-defined topographical maps on the street level (at least
for the USA), and they might be importable into the iPhone. I suppose some
expensive GPS units will do the same, but I am talking two or three dollars
per application here.

[John Doe]

I wrote:

> reasonably well-defined topographical maps on the street level
> (at least for the USA), and they might be importable into the
> iPhone.

They are... I bought one of those applications, called
"ITopoMaps". I intend to use it mainly for seeing upcoming hills
in new areas, and for planning routes, but it is interesting for
looking at hills in known areas too. The maps could look better
(what you see is USGS 1:24k topographical maps). The iPhone's
touch screen makes for very easy scrolling/zooming around on the
map.

The iPhone is a wealth of ultra-portable information. Battery
technology could be better.

--
Big front wheel skates (144mm front wheel, four 80mm trailing
wheels). Great for rough street skating.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27532210@N04/3056505603/