Schmap Local Search Comes to the iPhone

06.17.08 | No Comments | by: Dave Jeyes

Schmap’s local guide service that allows you to see Points of Interest (POI), reviews and do local searches from your desktop computer has just released a web interface for the iPhone and iPod Touch. They’ve compiled tons of information well beyond the usual restaurants and bars to include sporting events, concert tours and event political campaign trails. This addition of real-time useful information helps to make their content more useful for users.

They’ve released desktop Schmap packs that you can download and run on your Windows or Mac computer that enable you to see in-depth detail on individual cities, or you can log on via the web to do searches. They’ve covered most of the major metropolitan areas in the US and many tourist locations in Europe such as the UK, France, Germany and Spain.

iPhone Interface

Their iPhone interface is one of the most inventive ways of displaying map data that I’ve seen. They use the accelerometer built into the iPhone to tell when the phone is in landscape or portrait mode and displays the map when you hold your phone sideways. Check out the details and screenshots after the jump.

When you enter your search, the Schmap iPhone interface displays a list of restaurants or other places that you can scroll through. To find the one closest to you, just turn your iPhone sideways and a map will pop up on half of the screen. Then you can scroll through the list and watch the markers update as you scroll.

I wonder if they’re going to come out with a native iPhone application that you can install on your iPhone 3G to take advantage of the GPS and create a really sweet location-based service for the iPhone 3G. Either way it’s the coolest way to display mapping data on an iPhone that I’ve seen yet!

Here are some screenshots, but there’s a really cool animation over on the Schmap site that you can check out. You can also just head over to Schmap.com on your iPhone to test it out.

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