MapProjector – Maps from your iPad to your TV or Projector
One of the frustrations with the iPhone and iPad is that Apple only lets certain apps use the video out feature to display images or video on your TV or through a projector. One app that I would love to see this enabled on is Safari, but for now we are out of luck. However, for those who are mapping fanatics and want to show off a little part of the world that interests you, there is now a iPad app that lets one project dynamic map images from the device onto a TV or a projector. Pretty cool.
The app is called MapProjector and it lets one connect your iPad or iPhone to a projector or TV (using Apple’s Composite, Component or VGA cables) and then project a map image onto the screen. The app uses Google Maps in the Classic, Satellite or Hybrid views and lets you drop pins on the map to highlight a feature or location. You can also customize the location markers and save these for future reference. A toggle switch will let you turn on or off the external display so you can prepare your maps without the entire audience seeing it until you are ready. A location button will home into your current location using Wifi or Assisted-GPS on the iPad 3G models which also have a GPS chip in them. Its not clear to me if one can upload waypoints from say a gpx or kml file. I don’t think you can do this just yet, but it might be a feature coming down the pipe.
This is a bare bones app but one that does something few others can do and appears to do it well. I look forward to trying this app out when I am with friends and want to show them locations of interest or if I need to use some dynamic maps for a presentation. If you use maps at all as part of your presentation, this app may be perfect. Its $1.99. The developers Web site is really just a BBS forum but users have asked if they would develop something that would allow Safari to be projected. They say they are working on it. Screen shots of the app can be seen at the iTunes Store.
Link to MapProjector in iTunes Store
We have just released an update to MapProjector which includes export of your maps and landmarks to google maps ‘MyMaps’, to your photoAlbum, and via email as links to google maps via generic URLs (no account required). I also wanted to mention that due to restrictions in the current iPhone SDK, apps cannot use an external display, so MapProjector is iPad only. We will probably have a different situation in the near future.
Also, we are not now working on a web browser that goes to the external display, but there are now at least 3 available.