Poison Maps vs Direkto

Poison Maps (“POIs on Maps”) is the ultimate app for finding Points of Interest anywhere in the world. It includes millions of POIs and routes, all stored on your device for use even when offline. The app contains every possible category of POI: food, hotels, banks, toilets, fuel stations, tourist attractions, leisure, parking, shops, hills, towns, transport, hospitals, churches, schools, libraries, civic buildings, rescue services, and much much more. It also contains 4 million miles of colour-coded routes, such as railways, subway maps, bus routes, cycle routes, hiking trails and ski pistes. The POIs and routes are all taken from the fantastic OpenStreetMap project. The app includes many unique features: • a toolbar at the bottom of the screen that allows you to display what you want in just 2 or 3 taps; • signs pointing to offscreen POIs, so that you never miss a nearby POI; • compass, radar and scanner modes that display the nearest POIs in different ways; • a unique gesture that allows rapid panning by temporarily zooming out (using 3D Touch when available); • back and forward buttons that help you retrace what you have looked at (like on a browser); • an Apple Watch app that shows what you want in only a few taps (or just one tap of the complication); Compass mode simply shows signs to the POIs. This is particularly useful when you just want to know what is around you or which way to head, and you haven’t got time to inspect a map, such as when cycling or hiking. It also works offline and is perfect for people who hate maps: they just follow the sign to where they want to go. It is also great at viewpoints to identify what hills, towns and structures you can see. Radar mode and Scanner modes are similar but also include a map that rotates around the current position. They include radar “rings” to show the distances from the current position. Scanner mode uniquely positions the GPS dot at the bottom of the screen so that you can see much more information in the direction that you are pointing. The unique panning gesture requires just one touch of one finger instead of the multi-finger gymnastics required by the traditional “pinch to zoom” approach (although that is still available). It also provides a quick way of zooming out and back in again when you are not sure what area the map is showing. It is a brilliant and completely original use of 3D Touch but also works fine on iPhones without it (using a long touch). The Apple Watch app also allows you to select any category in just a few taps. When you have selected a category then the nearest POIs are shown on a mini-map with the details listed below. The watch app also provides navigation to a POI, and you can even phone a POI from the watch! These are just some of the unique aspects of the app. All the usual map features are also provided, such as super-fast searching, directions, bookmarks, POI information, favouriting of brands, and much more. You can even create your own POIs, such as where you parked your car. Note: This is the full global version – if you want to give the app a try first then please click on the 'Related' link above and install one of the regional versions. Not only can you try the app for free, but these versions only take up about the same space as 2 or 3 music albums.

Direkto is a Compass App. It can not only show where the north pole is, but also show the direction and distance to any other place. It also allows to record routes (of your travels, hikes etc) so you can follow them later again, or to find your way back more easily. The App shows a big compass which includes arrows showing the direction to all of the places you have stored within the App. You can also get coordinates and distances to these locations.  There are two modes available for the compass: A more traditional mode where the center of the compass shows current the direction as cardinal points and in degrees in big letters, the second mode shows a map in the background which can display or record a route, which helps to follow the route or find your way back on that route. Just keep the path in the center while following the route. The App supports Live Activities (iOS 16.1 and later on the iPhone), so the compass and all the directions and distances to the saved places are always visible within the dynamic island (iPhone 14 Pro) and on the lock screen. The App supports Voice Over on the iPhone for blind and visually impaired users. The Watch App also shows the compass and all directions and distances to all saved places, just like the iPhone App. The App respects your privacy. There's no tracking, no ads, no hidden costs, no subscription. It's just doing what you expect: showing the direction to north and other places, help to find your way.