Nona's iPhone App Picks for Walkers

I've been partnering with MapMyWalk since they started up, and link to them with my Google Map Pedometer page. You can take their walk-mapping with you and use your iPhone to map and track your walks, or to use a walking route you download from their site. You can upload your walk to your free MapMyWalk account, share it with friends via Facebook or Twitter, or let friends live track you as you walk (a nice safety feature). You get GPS distance tracking, time, pace, splits, map and voice feedback. You can integrate a heart rate monitor that has an Ant+ dongle. Cost: Free. There is also an iMapMyWalk+ app for $1.99 that integrates more with the MapMyWalk training log and allows you to geo-tag photos you take along your walk.

When you are out on a walk, it's good to know what is nearby. This app includes categories such as bank, hospital, restaurant, supermarket, etc. You get a list of those nearby and directions, plus they are pinpointed on a map. There is also a Nearby category so you can explore everything that is nearby. You might find something worth a detour! Cost: Free.

As a well-hydrated distance walker with a small bladder, I am the queen of bathroom-finders and porta-john spotters. Now there is an app for that. Their database has been growing steadily. You can view all nearby restrooms on a map or in a list sorted by distance. They include open hours so you can see which are open when you need them. There are reviews, ratings and photos for some facilities! And you can be a part of this wiki and add your own discoveries, reviews and photos on-the-go. Cost: Free.

What should you wear on your walk? SWeater, Coat, jaCKET? swackett is a weather app with clothing suggestions based on the forecast. The swackett cartoon people appear with shorts, sunglasses, water bottle, sunblock if it is going to be sunny and warm. In cold weather they put on hats, coats and boots. Rain? rain jackets and umbrellas. It's a fun weather app that is practical, too. I can't tell you how often I've headed out before dawn and forgot my shades. For weather junkies, you get weather timelines, animated satellite and radar images, wind, humidity, and "real feel" temperatures. Cost: Free.

Turn your iPhone into a pulse monitor with this handy app I've suggested to Nona. I often don't want to wear a chest band heart rate monitor, but I also hate trying to take my pulse via fingers on the carotid artery and a watch. Instead, this app uses your iPhone camera to take your pulse. It works best with iPhone models that have a flash, but works OK in daylight with models that don't. Cost: $0.99

I've suggested this one to Nona. PaceDJ analyzes all of the songs in your iTunes library and then lets you build a playlist based on the pace of the music. I found this extremely helpful for building my race pace playlist. Cost: $1.99.

Nona must be tired of me regaling her with my walking trips to that castle in France, Jerusalem, and Switzerland. So she's dreaming of her own vacations with OnTheFly, which lets you shop for airfares around the world. It is a comparison engine only, you can't buy the itineraries it shows you. But you do get airline-by-airline comparisons for the best deals. Then you would need to go to the airline web site or other travel booking site to purchase. Cost: Free.

As you're dreaming of those globe-trotting walking vacations, take a reality check with the U.S. Traveller app. For 200 countries you can learn about local laws, entry/exit requirements, currency, language, crime data, medical insurance, US Embassy locations and other essential data for travelers. You can view the current official government Travel Alerts and warnings. But also, on the non-scare-you-to-stay-home side of the equation, there are overviews of the history, culture and peoples of each country. Cost: $1.99

This one comes from my walking buddy Krista. It costs $4.99 and does much of what iMapMyWalk does. I had difficulty with my iPhone 3GS tracking my speed and distance accurately using it. But now with the iPhone 4S, the GPS antenna is better and I've gotten much better results. It maps your walk and you can view time, speed, distance, and pace. I especially love viewing the altitude profile of my walks.