Schmap.com – City Guides & Local Search

Schmap.com is both a website for city guides and local search. First we’ll start with city guides. There is support for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand and Other Europe. I chose Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. The guide has info on the city, tours, attractions, activities, hotels, restaurants, bas/clubs, coffee/tea, arts/fun, shopping, services and festivals. I started under “City Info” and selected the subcategory “Historical Background”. I got about 10 pages of the history of Minneapolis. In this area you have to scroll using two fingers.

Next I tried attractions. Again, there were many subcategories to choose from but I just went with “Top Attractions” just to be safe. I got a nice list including thumbnails to a couple zoos, the Mall of America, Valleyfair, Science Museum and more. Tapping on a selection gets you address, phone, email and URL link. These are all tappable and then interface with the iPhone’s other apps. There are also buttons at the bottom of the page that switch you to a review or photos of the attraction. You can also hit previous and next buttons to scroll through the attractions.

It seems all other categories function the same way with thumbnail previews, info, reviews and photos. You can also break down results by district. Of course one of the best features is what happens when you rotate the iPhone to landscape view. You get a Google Map on the left and the contact info on the right for the attraction you’ve chosen.

Now for the Local Search feature. Unfortunately this feature is only available in the USA. I did a search for coffee in Minneapolis zip code 55435 and got 8 results. The typical Starbucks and Caribou coffee chains were on the list but there were also some local businesses as well. Always a plus when it comes to coffee shops. These listing only had general contact info: address and phone number. No reviews, pics, url, etc. Again, tapping on address or phone number opened the corresponding iPhone apps Phone and Maps.

This is a great web app, runs fast, usable, interacts with other iPhone apps well, and best of all it’s a web app so anyone can use it, jailbroke or not, on any iPhone. Let us know if you’ve been using Schmap.com and what you think of it!