The iPhone is a really great piece of equipment.!  Recently I tested several GPS related apps on it and these are my thoughts on what I found.

Easy Trails LT
Fairly average app. Gives Altitude, Speed and location in degrees on first screen. On the tracks page I let it record for about 3 mins and it gives date, distance, time, moving time, average speed and maximum altitude. There is also an export to email option for GPX, KMZ, CSV with GPX exported back only.
The Share screen requires a connection to computer and a Wi-Fi connection. Not that useful when you are in the middle of nowhere with only 3G to use.  2 Stars

Altimeter
Another basic app. The accuracy of this one is a bit hard to measure. An option to reset the number display at sea level would be a good addition. An option to change from meters to feet is about all you can do with this. On a gradual ascent I did find that the number on the display did go down by anything up to 20ft as I was clearly going upwards. After about 50 of ascent it differed less at this point but it is still totally unusable.  1Star

Pinpoint Pro
The only use I can see for this one is if you are trying to meet up with someone, not always in the great outdoors but just trying to find someone in town. This pinpoints to as accurately as your position allows and lets you share this location with someone via email or SMS. I emailed my location to my wife and on her phone she could see a Google map screen of where I was.  3 Stars

Peak.ar
Another slightly disappointing app. On launch it seems like it wants to show you a map of Saltzburg whilst it tries to work out where you are. Then the camera launches and if you hold the phone at eye level and to the horizon, it will show you nearby peaks and the height of those peaks. You can then get it to tell you by changing screens where it is on the map and how far away. The negative aspects of this app were that I was within 0.5 mile of Beacon Hill that I was heading towards. The camera position showed me the peak but also showed me another one to the left with the same name at different height which didn’t exist. I then moved further away from the peak and tried again. From a distance the actual peak top that it was trying to show you was not at the point where the peak was. Other peaks were displayed that were clearly nowhere near but the camera screen did not allow an option to show me how far away that peak is.  2 Stars


GPS Log 2.2
This was almost the best app I tested. It uses Google maps to pinpoint your position to as accurate as it can get. You give the location a title and it will show you the co-ordinates, allows you to add multiple photos, notes on the location etc. Time is recorded each time you visit and your time-zone is shown. I would like to see added a trail left behind of where you have been and photo points recorded along the way. Trail Guru uses this and is a great function. Also the support for this app is excellent. William the developer is more than willing to hear suggestions and improvements from users. I have had the most positive response from any app developer on the iphone. 4 stars.


Trail guru
This app just nudged it for me. It was a close call between this and GPS Log. The feature I liked best was the trail on the map that it left behind and the data stored against the trail. The information that is recorded is time, distance, speed, elevation, lat-long. The only negative I have is that the map looses detail close in. You can take photos that display an icon on the map where the photo was taken. It would be nice if OS maps were used so that public footpaths were included. Walking across a field on a public path looked like I was in the middle of nothing on screen with the odd contour line to break it up. Posting the trail to the website allows other users to see it and you can also view other user trails with a whole wealth of information on the site that you can see about the trail you have made.   5 Stars.


iLOE
Utter rubbish. Completely user unfriendly and information on screen that makes no sense. Nodes are used and abbreviations on user defined information is confusing. Avoid.  0 stars


Fire Pin
This was a big disappointment. Opening up the app you get press start to begin recording. Doing so keeps the waiting for location update message constantly displayed.  0 Stars

Gridpoint GB
This is a great, simple app. If you quickly need to know what your 5 figure grid ref is then this is it. Geodetic conversions are accurate to within 1m using OSTN02.
Match this to the grid square on your OS map and you will see where you are. 3 stars

All reviews Dec 2009