The iPad's Maps app enables you to forget all about those folded paper roadmaps that always end up stained and crumpled in the back seat of the car. Tap open the Maps app on the Home screen. Type any address to the Maps app - and also you instantly see it on the screen, its location marked having a virtual red pin. All your usual iPad finger moves work on the maps, so you can zoom, scroll, pinch, and flick your way round the world.
Like Safari, though, Maps needs an Internet connection to pull its data down in the Web, so it's not a good thing in the world for emergency directions when you are lost in a bad a part of town with merely a Wi-Fi iPad. To plot your course, tap the Maps icon on the Home screen. Here are some of the things you can do with Maps along with a network connection:
Find a previous address. Tap the Search button. In the Address box towards the top of the screen, type in an address - or tap the icon to contact your Bookmarks list. Here, you can tap places you've previously marked, see your recent locations, or map an address from the Contacts list. Once the red pushpin drop onto the map, tap your button in the bar above it to get an info box for that address.
Mark the spot. Press and hold any spot on the map to drop a marker pin on it. If you miss slightly, press and drag the pin to the right address. Tap the button to determine the full address, get directions, or take away the pin. You can also add the place to your contacts or bookmarked places, or share the address by email - very handy whenever you set up a group dinner in a new restaurant.
If the pin's infobar has an orange and white icon of a faceless person, tap it to see a photo of the location from Google Street View that you can zoom, pan, and rotate 360 degrees; tap the map inset in the bottom-right corner to return to the regular view. You can plant a pin the long way by tapping the bottom-right corner of the screen, tapping the Drop Pin button, and then dragging the pin round the map to the right location.
Pick a view. The Maps app doesn't skimp on the scenery. Tap the bottom-right corner to see your available map styles: Classic, Satellite, Hybrid, and Terrain. Tap Show Traffic if you want to see current road congestion and perhaps take that antacid before you leave the home.
Ever take a look at a map and wonder wherever you are in relation to the place you're trying to get to? Unless that map has one of these You Are Here arrows, you always have to guess - although not if you have an iPad. Just make sure you possess an Internet connection and your Location Services turned on, too.
Then tap the present Location icon at the top of the Maps screen. The iPad drops a blue dot on the map to mark your position to inside a few hundred yards. While the Wi-Fi iPad does not have a GPS chip inside like the 3G 'Pad does, it does have software that calculates your position based on a big database of Wi-Fi hot spots and cell towers.
You can even combine a chance to instantly find your current location with getting directions to someplace else. Just tap the Directions button towards the top of the screen. Unless you're offline, the iPad usually begins with your current location in the first box. In the second box, type in an address or tap the button to get to your contact addresses.
Once it has the starting and ending points of your journey, the iPad appears a blue bar offering driving, mass transit, or walking directions. If you want to use your current position and navigate your way Boy Scoutstyle, the iPad features a built-in digital compass. To use it, tap the present Location icon once to get your position, and then tap it again to activate the digital compass, which appears on the iPad screen.
To rotate the compass-point north, hold the iPad parallel to the ground. To get back to regular map view, tap the compass icon in the toolbar. If a message with a number 8-type symbol appears on the screen, you need to calibrate the compass, which is normal the first time you use it. Firmly grip the iPad and wave it in an "air number 8" pattern to fine-tune its sense of direction.
Need to find your way from Point A to Point B, or at best from Albany to Boston? To map your route, tap the Directions button towards the top of the screen. A two-field box appears. If you don't wish to use your current location, tap the X in the Start box and type in a place of origin. In the End box, type in the destination address or tap the icon and choose one from your list of bookmarked sites, recent visits, or contacts.
Once the iPad gets the starting and ending points, it calculates how you can get there by car, mass transit, or foot. Tap the vehicle, bus, or Walking Person icon to get a set of step-by-step directions. If you're in the middle of nowhere, driving directions might be all you see here. The iPad delivers your directions in the blue bar. Tap the beginning button to get going.
To determine all the turns in a list, tap the icon and flick down the Route Overview directions; tap the square icon to shut the box. To see one turn at any given time in the blue bar, tap the buttons to get each new direction displayed on the map as you go. Unless you chose the mass-transit directions, you also get an approximate travel time for that trip. If you have an Internet connection as you go, the path can also update current traffic conditions.
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