The Cartographer 1.2 is here, with awesome navigation features

The Cartographer Google My Maps iPhone App v1.2 with compass We’ve recently released version 1.2 of our vintage-styled Google My Maps app The Cartographer!

The new version introduces Navigon support, so you can get turn-by-turn navigation to any placemark on your map — this is great for researching then running errands, home or abroad. For example, need a new iPad? Search for “Apple Store” on Google Maps, click “Save To…” and choose a My Map (or use the new [Clipper](http://cartographer-app.com/#clipper) on any webpage with an address), then open it in The Cartographer, select the new placemark, and navigate there. Totally seamless.

The other new feature is an in-app compass which provides bearing and distance information to the selected placemark. A needle points to your destination, while the dial shows which way’s north. Particularly useful for hiking — we used this just the other week in Exmoor National Park, and it was indispensable.

Grab [The Cartographer 1.2 on the App Store](http://itunes.apple.com/app/the-cartographer/id393312081?mt=8), or [find out more](http://cartographer-app.com).

Read More

Easy inclusion of OpenSSL into iOS projects

Oddly, iOS doesn’t provide any OpenSSL implementation at all — If you want to do anything with crypto (like checking signatures, checksumming, etc.), you have to build in the library yourself.

I came across a great [XCode project wrapper](https://github.com/sjlombardo/openssl-xcode) for OpenSSL yesterday, by Stephen Lombardo. This is an XCode project file that contains a target to build OpenSSL from source, and works with both Mac and iOS projects. I made some [modifications](https://github.com/michaeltyson/openssl-xcode) to it, in order to make it work by just dropping in the OpenSSL source tarball, without having to dirty up your source tree with the extracted OpenSSL distribution.

Here’s how to use it:

  1. [Download the OpenSSL source](http://www.openssl.org/source/).
  2. Put the downloaded OpenSSL source tar.gz into the same folder as openssl.xcodeproj (I put it in Library/openssl within my project tree).
  3. Drag the openssl.xcodeproj file into your main project tree in XCode.
  4. Right-click on your project target, and add openssl.xcodeproj under “Direct Dependencies” on the General tab.

  5. On the Build tab for your project’s target, find the “Header Search Paths” option, and add the path:

    $(SRCROOT)/Library/openssl/build/openssl.build/openssl/include

    (Assuming you’ve put openssl.xcodeproj at the path Library/openssl — adjust as necessary).

  6. Expand your target’s “Link Binary With Libraries” build stage, and drag libcrypto.a from the openssl.xcodeproj group.

Then, you can just import and use as normal (#import <openssl/dsa.h>, etc).

[Download it here](https://github.com/michaeltyson/openssl-xcode/zipball/master)

Read More

The Cartographer featured in “What’s Hot” on the App Store

We were rather thrilled this morning to see that Apple have featured The Cartographer in the “What’s Hot” section on the App Store! That’s the second feature this month, after being featured under “New and Noteworthy” — I guess someone up there (in Cupertino!) likes us.

So, that’s our Christmas made merry!*

May yours be too.

* (but, you know, you could always make it merrier by [nominating The Cartographer for the Best App Ever awards](http://bestappever.com/nom)!)

Read More

Coming soon: Bulk downloading of offline maps

Here’s something I’ve just finished working on, ready for release very soon: Offline map downloading.

You can grab [The Cartographer on the iPhone App Store](http://itunes.apple.com/app/the-cartographer/id393312081?mt=8) — version 1.1 will be available shortly, and is a free update. When we release version 1.1, we’ll be ending our introductory 50% off sale, so grab a copy soon before the price goes up!

Read More

The Cartographer iPhone App: A Map Fit for Royalty

Win 1 of 15 Free Copies of The Cartographer

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date and for a chance of winning one of fifteen promo codes.

Win Chris Guillebeau’s “Travel Master Kit”

  1. Follow @ATastyPixel on Twitter.
  2. Tweet this: Win Chris Guillebeau’s “Travel Master Kit” valued at $129 for the launch of @ATastyPixel’s The Cartographer http://cartographer-app.com

The Contest ends November 25th, 2010 at midnight GMT. The winner will be notified via direct message on Twitter.

There is no restriction to the number of entries so tweet your little hearts out!

Chris Guillebeau’s “Travel Master Kit” includes three e-books – “Frequent Flyer Master”, the “Discount Airfare Guide”, and “Travel Ninja”, complete with bonuses. Read more.

Read More

Tantalising Teaser Tidbit 2: The Cartographer

The Cartographer iPhone Travel App Sneak-peek.jpg

We’ve created an app that we wished existed. We’ve been traveling since June 2009 and wanted a way to have the maps we made with Google My Maps, detailing our travel plans, on our iPhone. We developed The Cartographer as we traveled through Europe for eight months and have been using it the whole time: So it’s truly been developed with the needs of travellers in mind.

Win 1 of 15 Free Copies of The Cartographer

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date and for a chance of winning one of fifteen promo codes.

Win Chris Guillebeau’s “Travel Master Kit”

  1. Follow @ATastyPixel on Twitter.
  2. Tweet this: Win Chris Guillebeau’s “Travel Master Kit” valued at $129 for the launch of @ATastyPixel’s The Cartographer http://cartographer-app.com

The Contest ends November 25th, 2010 at midnight GMT. The winner will be notified via direct message on Twitter.

There is no restriction to the number of entries so tweet your little hearts out!

Chris Guillebeau’s “Travel Master Kit” includes three e-books – “Frequent Flyer Master”, the “Discount Airfare Guide”, and “Travel Ninja”, complete with bonuses. Read more.

Read More

A Week of Tantalising Teasers for our Upcoming iPhone App for Travellers

First Sneak Peek

Paper maps are becoming obsolete but it doesn’t mean we have to lose their vintage beauty and romantic charm.

Interested in having this tasty nugget of travel app goodness on your iPhone? In one week – on 18th November to be specific – all will be revealed.

Win 1 of 15 Free Copies of The Cartographer

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date and for a chance of winning one of fifteen promo codes.

Win Chris Guillebeau’s “Travel Master Kit”

  1. Follow @ATastyPixel on Twitter.
  2. Tweet this: Win Chris Guillebeau’s “Travel Master Kit” valued at $129 for the launch of @ATastyPixel’s The Cartographer http://cartographer-app.com

The Contest ends November 25th, 2010 at midnight GMT. The winner will be notified via direct message on Twitter.

There is no restriction to the number of entries so tweet your little hearts out!

Chris Guillebeau’s “Travel Master Kit” includes three e-books – “Frequent Flyer Master”, the “Discount Airfare Guide”, and “Travel Ninja”, complete with bonuses. Read more.

Read More

Appetiser Week!

As you may or may not be aware, we’re about to release a new iPhone app – it’s just been submitted for review! It’s an app that we’ve been working on for almost a year and blows everything we’ve previously done out of the water.

We’ll be providing sneak peaks on the blog in a week’s time, so if you don’t want to miss any juicy morsels be sure to subscribe!

Read More