Turn Your Blackberry into a GPS Pedometer/Speedometer

I'm in love. Imagine being able to view your walking or running speed and distance and see full-color maps of where you're going -- all on the cell phone you're already carrying on your walk! Last week, reader Elwing asked in our discussion forum about an application that turns your Motorola smart phone or Blackberry into a GPS pedometer/speedometer and workout tracker. I read that about 8 am on Saturday and zipped over to the AllSportGPS web site. Within minutes I was able to easily download and install the application on my Blackberry and head out for a walk. It took longer to shower and put on my shoes than to do the whole transaction. The interface on my cell phone was simple and completely intuitive. Select Walking, wait a few seconds for the GPS to connect to the GPS satellites, select Start and off you go.

What do you get? A constant readout of your current speed and average speed for the session, plus accurate distance, plus a map of where you are and where you might be going! And when you're done, it automatically transmits it to a web site where it is saved for posterity, and you can choose to keep it private or share it with the world. But wait, there's more! A graph of your speed throughout the workout! An elevation profile for your workout so you can brag about the steep hills! A map of it all - and since it uses Google Maps, you can select a street view, satellite view, or topographic view.

What makes this system unique compared to the Garmin Forerunner series or the Timex Speed+Distance GPS monitors is the ease of use, the great maps, and the really cool info you can view both on your smart phone and on the web site. Now for the price. A year of service for a Blackberry is the same as the cost of a really good pedometer, $39.99. It's the best deal I've found all year! Consider that the Timex or Garmin systems are well over $100 and you would have to juggle just one more gadget. You've already bought the cell phone, why not make it do double duty?

Here's a walk I took on the weekend.. I even added a photo highlight! Next time, I'll have to use the interval program to start working on my speed. Another plus of the Trimble Outdoors web site is that you can draw a route using their online map editor and then download it to your phone. I also recreated the route we walked a previous Sunday. Those were some hills! If you have a Motorola smart phone or a Blackberry, I can heartily recommend AllSportGPS.

Review of AllSportGPS

What apps do you use for walking?

Photo © Wendy Bumgardner