Without a doubt, Google Maps on the iPhone is one of those god-sent features that makes you wonder how you ever lived without it. It brings the power of street-level maps from around the world right to the palm of your hand. Combine that with satellite imagery, turn-by-turn directions and a photographic pedestrian view and an interactive mapping service and you’ve got an all-in-one street directory GPS in your pocket.

The iPhone 3G’s built-in GPS chip makes it not only one of the best mobile phones, but one of the best GPS devices on the market. It uses Assisted GPS, or A-GPS, to lock on your position and give you an approximate location if it can’t find your GPS signal.

Despite the inclusion of the GPS chip, there still isn’t a sat nav turn-by-turn voice navigation application for iPhone users. It seems Apple have pre-empted possible litigation stemming from route guidance by the iPhone, but it does seem odd they haven’t included the feature. That said, iPhone users can still get directions to and from destinations by means of Google Maps. They won’t be vocal directions but are most certainly an improvement on the back seat street directory.

Directions on Google Maps
Finding where something is located is easy on Google Maps. Once in the Google Maps application of your iPhone, you can find virtually anything you like.

When you press the Directions tab at the bottom of the screen, you’ll be prompted to enter the location you wish to begin and end your journey. You can type the location in manually or use the Address Book to automatically input the field. To do this, press the X, then press the blue Book icon to open your contacts list. If the contact you wish to find has more than one address, you’ll be prompted to choose which one you wish to navigate to.

By default, the Directions entry will have your Start position as your current location, which is worked out by using the iPhone 3G’s A-GPS. After you’ve entered the Start and End points on the interface, select the Route button to begin the process.

Google Maps calculates the best route to take between the two locations. It will tell you the difference between the two points and how long it is likely to take and show you a map with the planned route. Simply press Start and you’ll be given a set of instructions on a marked map of each step of the journey, including where to turn and how far to travel. To move to the next part of the journey, press the right arrow in the top right hand corner.