Review: Where To? GPS Points of Interest

Overview Anytime an app promotes itself as sporting a "gorgeous user interface," I get a little nervous. However, it was quirky enough when I loaded it up that I wondered if the meat was as good as the plate it was served on. Where To? GPS Points of Interest seeks to help you identify, well, places of interest near your current location using the iPhone's GPS abilities. It allows you to "dial" into all kinds of different places ranging from schools, entertainment, gas stations, and doctors' offices or hospitals.

Functionality

When the app loads up, you'll be presented with what looks like an old-fashioned rotary phone icon. Although you don't dial it (which took some of the fun out of it), you are given a veritable smorgasbord of choices. It utilizes the Google Maps to find anything and simply puts the key word you've selected into the Google Maps search. In a search for anything you are given the following options:

• Where I Am Now - This pinpoints where you are with the location you're looking for.
• Current Location in Maps - Uh, this sounds strangely like the first option. (And it gave me the same results!)
• One of my Contacts... Looks up the word you're looking for in all of your contacts?
• Some other Location... What the?
• Add to Favorites - Uh... how?

Let's just move on to the review... Although it gives you LOTS of options to pick from, the results are... well, buckle in...

Review

I absolutely hated this app. I actually can't wait to delete from my iPhone. The idea of launching Google Maps out of Where To? is ridiculous. I got all kinds of results in our little town of 10,000 for colleges, but I quickly realized that there are streets named College and University. There are businesses with that in the name, and a local bank branch is called the "College Branch." Although it did identify and locate the local university, it also found 20+ other locations that I had to sort through. I suppose I would then have to close Google Maps and relaunch Where To? to add anything or all of what I found as a favorite? Moreoever, the contact results were just as confusing. What in the world was it looking for in my contacts when it pulled up a long list with the "college" search function? I gazed through the contacts and couldn't find a common denominator. There certainly wasn't a college in their names, and since many of them didn't have addresses, it couldn't be pulling them up in proximity to the 20+ locations could it? Even the website for Where To? was entirely unhelpful. There was simply no explanation for what this app really does, or how to fine tune it, or well, you get the picture.

Summary

I can tell you "where to" put this app, but let's just say that paying $2.99 for this is rather crazy. Why do that when you could get a fourth or fifth flashlight app for your iPhone? On top of that, there is another free app that offers some similar features - Where? However, it seems that the biggest feature of Where To? is simply helping you type something into Google Maps. Do you really want to pay $3 just to have it type in "college OR university" in the Google Map search box?

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