iFotoGuide, by photographers Dan Baumbach and Brett Edge is a new series of photo guides to national parks made for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Right now there are just two guides available-Arches National Park and Yosemite National Park-with more on the way.
I’ve bought both of these just to see what they were all about. For an iPhone app they might seem expensive at $4.99 but with all the information packed into these, this modest cost is well worth it.
What kind of information you ask? Well, the iFotoGuide has several sections to it:
- Area Information
- Park Information
- Interactive Map
- Photo Locations
- Photo Gallery
- Sunrise/sunset times
- Additional Resources
Area information is just like it sounds. You’ll have access to Airport info, transportation options, Lodging, campgrounds, restaurants, weather and a lot more. What’s really cool is that you can look up a hotel, and then visit its website, call it (not on the iPod touch of course), or view a map of its location.
Airport information includes the travel distance to Moab for the Arches Guide and Yosemite for the Yosemite Guide
Really, there is everything here needed to plan a trip. I think the only thing it can’t do for you is book your flight. But there’s an app for that elsewhere.
The real meat of these apps is the photo locations. Here you have several ways of exploring. One of my favorites is the Interactive Map. This appears to be the official park map only it has little camera icons all over it. Tap on one of these and you’ll see a picture of what that particular site has to offer. There’s another icon below the picture for more information. This will give you things such as a description of the location and the photo opportunities, driving directions, and if applicable, trail information such as distance, elevation gain, trailhead GPS coordinates, and difficulty level.
In fact, all the sites in the app have GPS coordinates.
Also included is photo advice along other important things you might need to know. All in all, pretty thorough.
Another way of finding locations is to tap Photo Locations from the main menu and then choose between Sunrise, Sunset, and All Day locations.
Truthfully, I don't know how these guys could have done a better job on this app. There is an impressive amount of information included and you could use this app for planning just about every aspect of a photo trip. Seriously, I think the only thing it can't do is book your flight...
The Park Information section gives you the basics of the park including phone numbers, entrance fees, park hours and more. There are also sub-sections on Wildlife, Wildflowers, Backpacking, and Safety. The Yosemite app also has a section on Bears.
While these guides give you a lot of information, there’s always more to know. With that in mind, Dan and Brett have included an Additional Resources section with lists of books, maps, and other things helpful. As with the hotel lists, links and phone contacts are included.
Now for the actual photo location information. I have to admit, having worked on two photo guide books, that I was pretty impressed. I’ve been to Arches a number of times and with this app I discovered several new places to go. For the Yosemite guide I did notice the absence of what I consider a few must photograph locations like Fern Spring, Cathedral Beach, and Swinging Bridge. This is not a big deal because these apps are updatable and more sites can be added as they’re written up. Besides, part of outdoor and nature photography is in the discovery of the new.
So for $4.99 download and check out these apps.
http://ifotoguide.com/
