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BREAKING NEWS & VIEWS

National Geographic Launches iPhone World Atlas
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Steve Smith

Talk about a no-brainer! When you are sitting on one of the best and most beloved collections of maps in the world, it almost seems a sin not to bring them to a

mobile platform where they can be of such use and fun.

The $1.99 National Geographic World Atlas for iPhone and iPod Touch aims more for quick utility rather than comprehensiveness and beauty, however. The world map at the start page lets you double tap anywhere in the world to zoom in to multiple levels of detail of the political boundaries, roads and satellite view. The maps are hi-res so they retain their sharpness and detail at most zoom levels. In a deal with Microsoft’s Bing search engine and mapping service, the app lets you zoom down to the street level as well.

But this is a genuine mobile atlas, so the heart of the app is really in data. An index of nations with capsule descriptions and statistics forms the most browsable element in this generally workmanlike production. You can zoom into any region of the world by drilling into the city or nation index. You can annotate and bookmark favorite places. The app also lets you download some maps to the device for faster use later. GPS search and text search are available for zooming to your current location or one of 6 million cities, towns and regions in the database.

While the NatGeo app is not quite the home run of features and map diversity one would have liked, it is more functional and easy to use than most of the alternatives. As a branding statement for the magazine and its incredibly rich resources, we have to consider it merely an acceptable start that begs for a more dazzling leveraging of the brand's extensive reach.

If you have breaking news to share please contact Steve Smith at ssmith@accessintel.com

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