In all reality it could also be a car ride but these are apps I relied on during a recent 8 day, 2668 mile ride to participate in Rolling Thunder.
I mentioned in the most recent Observed Tech show, Episode 91, that the motorcycle ride was a very non-tech kind of excursion and that I had been a bit disconnected from the tech world during the full days of riding. It is also important for those of us involved in tech on a regular basis to take a break from it. When you do that by engaging in one of your other passions then it works out well all around.
However, I did follow those thoughts up with a comment that tech helped out along the way and so I would like to tell you about the apps I put to use and see if you have some apps that are important to you when travelling.
Here is my list:
Instead of packing along a GPS device that only performed one function I opted to use this for my turn by turn guidance on the road. Searching for a destination is very easy and it ties into search results that will take you straight to Drive+ and start pointing you to your destination.
We are always tracking mileage when on a motorcycle ride and Maps was great because it always defaulted to your current location and then allowed you to search for the destination you wanted. Within just a few seconds it would present a quick route to that location but more important to us was it displayed the total number of miles on the results page.
Those of us who ride on motorcycles accept a higher level of risk simply because we are more exposed than we would be in a car, truck etc. Of course, being exposed like that means we also keep a close eye on the weather ahead of us to evaluate when and if we need to stop and put on rain gear to stay as dry as we can. This app has one function – show the moisture that is on radar at that moment. It does that very well and quite accurately.
This app gets used a lot the night before a day of riding because you can easily enter several locations and keep an eye on the weather for your next day of riding. I do wish it would incorporate The Weather Channels highway forecast tool like they have on the website though.
My last app is the one that kept family and friends aware of my location and progress on the road. Of course, it gives you options to share with just your Foursquare friends, those on Facebook or on Twitter so you get to control how wide the info gets and in this day and age being discreet with who has your info and whereabouts is very important.
So how about yourself?
What apps do you depend upon when you are on the road?
