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Show HN: Tired of entering map directions on iPhone? I've streamlined it
- capex 15y agoWhy would I need a GPS to take me to dad's or a particular cafe after I've gone there once or twice?
- pheelicks 15y agoI built this after getting tired at how many actions it takes to enter directions in Maps on iPhone. Often I just wanted to navigate from the current location to a common place (eg home, work). With Quickmaps, all I have to do is launch the app and with single gesture I'm done. Feedback is most welcome
- savrajsingh 15y agoVery smart. Great work. I have definitely felt this pain, next time I do I will use your app!
- jazzychad 15y agoThis is AMAZING. Installed it on my phone, and it works exactly as advertised. I'll be telling everyone about this. Thank you thank you thank you.
- derefr 15y agoFor a feature suggestion I've been craving (not quite in-line with your app, but possibly a useful pivot): let me specify a route[-gesture] with multiple stop-points, possibly even returning to the start--so that the start of each route is the end of the previous. (Say, go to a friends' to pick something up, then from there to the grocery store, then back home [where I already was while entering the route.]) The one thing I find absolutely tedious is saying "from Current Location, to B", then after arriving at B, having to change that to "from Current Location, to A", rather than just being able to say "from B back to wherever the Current Location was when I was coming here."
- doubleconfess 15y agoI've also wanted this for a long time.
- karpathy 15y agoNice, this is one of those 'duh, that makes a lot of sense' apps. I would have liked to pay for it.
- brodney 15y agoI just had to double take - it's listed as free? Why?! This is a fantastic idea, and I feel many would gladly pay.
- greatreorx 15y ago"getting tired at how many actions it takes to enter directions in Maps on iPhone." I've never thought this was a pain point. Were you using map bookmarks? It's 5-10 seconds of clicks that I'm regularly comfortable doing while driving.
- gpambrozio 15y agoGood idea. It would be nice if you could open other apps instead. Most navigation apps have url schemes you could use just as you did with the maps app and at least cygic has a terrible interface to enter my route info.
- kooshball 15y agoBrilliant. This is such a common use case I can't believe it's not more optimized in the OS level.
- trhaynes 15y agoQuick suggestion: style the "Current Location" bubble differently from the rest. Also, I'm not sure what "?" is. I assume that it lets you enter an address, but it's best if I don't have to try it to figure it out.
- pheelicks 15y agoAgree that it could be clearer. The idea of the '?' is to let you enter a location without the hassle of having to save it first. Useful for times when you want to go someplace, but it's not common enough to warrant saving it
- apawloski 15y agoTo me, it seems like this (the ? ) is the strongest feature of the app. My kneejerk reaction is that if you go to a place often enough to save it, you probably don't need directons anyway (or won't after one or two trips). Nitpick aside, this is a beautifully simple interface.
- juriga 15y agoThe "?" button is definitely useful, but often I use Google Maps on Android to get transit directions home (or some other recurring place). I know where home is but I still don't know whether or not I have to run to catch the next train.
- egallardo 15y agoI would guess that the most common use case is getting from the current location to a new destination (?). What if those 2 were more prominent? Saved locations could be an additional option but to make this more efficient, I would bring those 2 options to the forefront. Needless to say, but well done!
- juriga 15y agoAgree on both. Current location and the one-off entry button should be distinct from the preset buttons. I love the simple but powerful UI. It's not often you see something that makes you think "Why hasn't this been done before?". I would even gladly pay a buck or two for an Android version ;) EDIT: grammar
- jcfrei 15y agowow! hurry and get this out for android - otherwise I'll do it for you ;)
- pheelicks 15y agoThere goes my weekend...
- dannyr 15y agoNot sure if it's ICS only but there is now a widget that you can set up to navigate or get directions to a specific location in 1 click.
- mordero 15y agoI'm not sure if it was just a CM7 widget or not, but before I got my Galaxy Nexus, there was a widget available to do that. When you place the widget, you put in the address it should go to (one thing I didn't like is I don't remember autocomplete or any contact selection being available for it, so you had to know the address).
- lemma 15y agoOn Android, you can just hold the search button to bring up voice search and say "navigate to $address" and google maps navigation will guide you to the address, no need to type anything. You can even say "navigate to $business_name" and it will lead you to the closest one.
- spullara 15y agoI'm sure everyone on here knows that you can do that on either platform. Presumably people don't think that is as good.
- joering2 15y agogood job!! question -- did you design outlook and icon yourself? any suggestions?
- nostromo 15y agoOn this topic -- add your common locations (home, work, trader joes) as contacts in your iOS address book. Then when you need directions, just click on the address book icon in Maps under Search, and select the location, and you're good to go. I was an iOS user for several years before figuring this out -- it's saved me a lot of time. I probably typed in my home address a hundred times unnecessarily. Although, since I'm going to try out this app, this tip maybe isn't so useful. :)
- tlrobinson 15y agoWhy is that any better than using the bookmarks feature?
- allenbrunson 15y agoit's easier than that: you can just start typing a name, and the maps app will auto-complete from your address book or from the maps app's saved bookmarks.
- wtn 15y agopheelicks' app is a good idea, but it really does need Contacts integration. There's no way I'm going to type in a bunch of addresses I already have on iCloud (that got there through manual entry).
- RKearney 15y agoOr even better, just ask Siri for directions. It understands "work" or "home" if you've added them to yourself in the Address Book.
- crewtide 15y agoYeah, I don't see the benefit. If you default "from" to Current Location, the maps interaction is three taps (edit, bookmarks, choose). While this app would be one swipe, there's the added decision of which app to use when wanting directions, and I think that probably takes up more brain space than the extra tap.
- devsatish 15y agowow! cool idea bro! installed it! I am sure I will be using this all the time when I need the maps! One request: If you can write a blog/comments about number of downloads after making to top of HN, it would be interesting metric to look at :-)
- JTon 15y agoHrm. I only use my nav to get to _new_ places. That being said, I do see value using this app to swipe to the "?".
- apawloski 15y agoThat was my initial thought as well. An interesting extension of this concept would be to have generic circles too (eg "Bars") that connect the user to a list of nearby places that the user can select from. Still no typing.
- webwright 15y agoConsider adding calendar integration? i.e. a "next appointment (3pm / 1313 W. 54th Ave)" bubble...
- dustingetz 15y agowhat GPS app do you guys use? all the iphone GPS apps I've used are terrible, I still use Siri w/ google maps, which takes more attention than it should when i'm driving.
- dyeje 15y agoAt first I thought, "Hmm, nifty idea. Could be useful." But then I stopped to examine the use of it. It seems that this idea is inherently kind of pointless because the places you frequent you already know how to get to. On the other hand places you don't frequent, the case in which this would be fantastic, won't be in there. What are your thoughts on this? Have you considered using prediction (perhaps by scraping the user's calendar) to show places they have not driven to many times? Great job with the design by the way.
- newhouseb 15y agoI commonly commute between a small set of places at different times on public transportation. Depending on what time I'm travelling, the best route through public transportation can be completely different. I know how to get to all of these places by walking/driving, but I don't always know the best way to get there given the time, which is why this app is so useful.
- xbryanx 15y agoI regularly need to get "directions" to places I commonly visit, because I use the map app to give me bus times. I suspect folks who drive, might do this allot with traffic information.
- aw3c2 15y agoI am a bit confused, why do you need the starting point? I guess you would be there and for navigation you would need a GPS position anyways.
- neilk 15y agoSometimes GPS isn't working. What if you're in an underground parking lot? I do agree though, it seems like a bit of a fail if the OS knows that it has a good fix on GPS, you shouldn't even need a "current location". Just tap the location you want and go. If you want to do a route from A to B, then do the swipe. But I expect the difficulty there is that getting a GPS fix takes time, and mobile apps in 2012 can't do it in the background.
- rpledge 15y agoNice app, I'm impressed!
- shocks 15y agoLooks like a great app. Does it offer any password protection? Dan loses phone, Andy finds phone. Andy emails Dan's wife saying he lost his keys, and can she leave a spare behind the shed? Andy uses phone to find house, Andy robs house. Just a thought. :)
- xyzzyb 15y agoProbably better to depend on the OS security for this.
- shocks 15y agoMaybe so, but iirc the iPhone pin-code is pretty easy to bypass. Perhaps it's just me that's paranoid! :)
- xyzzyb 15y agoOh well sure, more security is always better. :-) I was just thinking that if they were able to reach email then the map app security isn't as much of a concern.
- 0x0 15y agoYou can configure the lockscreen to require a fullblown passphrase if you think pins are too short.
- shocks 15y agoOf course, but there have been security flaws in the past that allowed you to easily remove a pin or passphrase. I'm just nervous about saving my "home" address. Your car has keys, but you're still advised not to save your home address under "Home" on your satnav. It's the same thing.
- 0x0 15y agoHm, there are some provisions in the secure keychain that supposedly encrypt keychain data with the pin/passphrase. Wonder if those lockscreen bypass flaws affect that? (Google "kSecAttrAccessibleWhenUnlocked" for a start)
- ComputerGuru 15y agoWhat I really need is an app to send an address I've looked up in Google Maps on my iPhone to my Garmin Nuvi via Bluetooth. Search on the Nuvi for places > 5 mi away takes forever. It's so much faster (and easier since Google guesses many of the address details) on the iPhone w/ Maps, and it'd be awesome to add a button that say "Send to Nuvi" and be on my way :)
- Toucan 15y agoI like the iPhone TomTom app which incorporates Google Local Search. The IQ route planning and traffic avoidance are excellent also, I've found them taking 10% off of city based journeys where I previously thought I knew the roads well.
- neilk 15y agoThank you. As a transit rider, this is exactly what I wanted. The existing form is not so bad if you define those locations in contacts, the form will autocomplete, including "C" for current location, strangely. But this is just that much better. I look forward to Apple stealing this. Charge money for it while you can. I still don't have any good mobile integration between my Google Calendar and maps, though. The phone knows where I am, and with the calendar it knows where I'm supposed to be. Why doesn't it notify me at the right time to leave where ever I am, based on estimated travel time in my usual transport mode? Surely someone's done this already...
- stretchwithme 15y agogreat idea. And it should use how often you are late to improve that notification.
- J3L2404 15y agoClever app, nice job. Love the animation on the selection and how it just leaves you in google maps and doesn't try to re-invent the map interface. Might want to change Swipe from one location to another to Drag from one location to another Thanks for making it.
- thushan 15y agoThank you, thank you!
- exolab 15y agoI don't really see the point. Getting from my favourite places to my favourite places I usually don't need a map.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- tonster 15y agoVery, Very clever. Definitely going to give this a try.
- furyofantares 15y agoMy first thought was that I don't think I've ever needed directions to or from a location more than once or twice, once it's familiar I know where it is. But then I realized I do need transit times between familiar locations every time I use mass transit. So then I went to buy it, and it's free -- is there a way I can give you money?
- andrewfelix 15y ago>is there a way I can give you money? Was thinking the same thing. I have paid for far less useful apps. This should be 99c
- badclient 15y agoNext: please make an app that tells me what direction I should be walking to find 7th ave if I'm on 8th ave? You'd think the gps should help but it doesn't. You often end up walking more than half way before the gps will sluggishly tell you you're headed in the wrong direction. Any tourist in NYC would buy it. It's less painful than asking someone like me(happens few times a week).
- fido 15y agoMy first thought is to use this on vacation. Let's say I go to San Diego... I enter in the hotel, the zoo, ocean beach, little italy, la jolla, etc. Then, as I randomly explore the area, I click from current location to any spot I've already entered. I LOVE this. My most common words on vacation are "How in the hell do I get back to the hotel".
- cpeterso 15y ago"And where did I park the car??" :)
- centro 15y agoMy reaction: That's awesome, I wonder how much it co… (holy *@$!^&) hit download immediately. This is an elegant solution for a problem that should really be better taken care of at the OS level. Hopefully Apple has the decency to carve out a chunk of it's billions and buy this idea from you. Great work!
- iambot 15y agoThe one pain point for me in the app, which I installed, is that when I enter/edit a location I want to just drop a pin on the map - ala google maps. And not just be redirected to the native maps app.
- pheelicks 15y agoOP here. Thanks for all the feedback, wasn't expecting to get such a positive response! There are a bunch of great suggestions here which I plan on adding in the future. Follow me: @pheeelicks (yes, 3 e's) for updates (inc Android version) (Sorry for the extra post - it's too late to edit my original)
- alexobenauer 15y agoBrilliant. I would have paid for this, fyi.
- gcb 15y agoi can see how the UI is awesome from going one place to another, but really, anyone 'navigate' from anywhere that is not your 'current location'? i don't. so it's an honest question. thinking about it, the only few times i do search from A to B instead of "here to B" is when i'm getting the subway, but then, i always have to click the nearest station i'm willing to walk anyway... don't see i having one bookmark for each one
- zeroonetwothree 15y agoThis is really awesome. I would have gladly paid $1 for it.
- burnsie_la 15y agoAwesome idea, very clever! Any plans for an Android version?
- Void_ 15y agoIf somebody drives often between two locations they know the way, right? Am I missing something?
- jamesrcole 15y agoNot for this app per se, but for a public-transport journey planner it'd be useful for getting the next set of travel options to a common destination.
- d5tryr 15y agoCute interface. The aesthetic could be a little more refined but the behaviour and the animation is quite charming.
- sidww2 15y agoSiri actually makes it rather simple to query map directions
- yogrish 15y agoIf you know frequently used destinations (routes are familiar) like work, park, Aquarium etc why at all you need maps? Will be useful when going to a new place for which you don't know the route. In any case you need to type the location right. I am not getting the usefulness of this App. Am I missing some thing??