Top 10 Location Aware Android Applications

Google is planning to unveil the Android phone tomorrow in New York. Android phones are capable of running Google Maps and therefore should lead to an explosion in location-aware applications for the mobile phone.

The following applications all use Google Maps to provide location aware services:

cab4me
Cab4me shows your current location on a Google Map and attempts to find your nearest taxi provider. Cab4me is currently in private Beta testing.

Locale
Locale will allow you to set your phone's setting based on your location. For example, you can define your work space and configure your phone's settings to vibrate only when you are at the office.

Piggyback
Piggyback is a real-time carpooling application that helps you save time and money while reducing your carbon footprint. Piggyback can map your driving patterns to help you find passengers more easily and more regularly.

BreadCrumbz
Breadcrumbz will let you navigate your route using pictures. It will be like navigating using Google street view but with static images instead of panoramas. The application also plots your route on a Google Map.

PhoneBook 2.0
PhoneBook 2.0 organises your contacts, notifies you when they are online, displays reminders when a birthday is coming and helps centralise all communications. The application uses Google Maps to show the current locations of your contacts.

Ecorio
Ecorio will run in the background of your phone and track the journeys you take. It will then tally up the trips you take each day so that you are aware of your carbon footprint. If you select one of these trips you will be shown how to make the same journey using public transit, if available. You can also see the carpools that are available for that trip.

ShopSavvy
ShopSavvy is a shopping assistant for your phone. To use ShopSavvy you scan a product's barcode with your phone's camera and view all the best prices online and at nearby, local stores. The application uses Google Maps to show the locations of stores where you can buy the product cheaper.

Pocket Journey
Pocket Journey is a mobile social exchange that connects you to location-specific knowledge so you can quickly know everything about anywhere. The application plans to provide Geoclips, short, category specific text, audio and video clips designed to capture the highest quality knowledge about a specific location by those who know the location best.

Beetaun
Beetaun is a social network based on geographical content. Beetaun uses Google Maps to show the geo-related tags of other users. Beetaun will therefore help you to find out the places that other people liked at any location.

Commandro
Commandro is a mobile social network that will organise, display, and manage location-based information. Commandro also plans to organise active outdoor games based on your social network.

Update
The Android Developers Blog has a good open source example of an Android app mashing up Google Maps with Panoramio photographs. The post even runs through how the MapView was added to the app.

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