From This Sunday's NYT . . . Helpful Account of iPhone Travel Apps

The iPhone is a marvelous device, though phones with Android platforms are starting to catch up with the useful applications iPhone has been able to offer for a couple of years now.

I think travel apps are still in their infancy, though Google does a good job of mapping routes and reporting on real-time traffic situations in large cities. 

Writing in this Sunday's New York Times, Michelle Higgins offers a review of more than a dozen apps that travelers might find useful. 

I'm surprised she didn't add Layar, which will become increasingly more important as users are able to add more and more things to the program that lets you explore the immediate neighborhood you're in.  You can "layer" Wikipedia and learn about points of interest that might be a block away from where you're standing.  Or if you're curious about what folks in the neighborhood are tweeting about, just layer Twitter over it and click on the little balloons floating in front of you.  This should be a reminder that anything you Tweet can be read this way--I've been privy to juicy (if brief) details of someone's previous night's date as well as helpful information on local restaurants.