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Apps Poison Maps: The Ultimate POI app for the watch

cfc

cfc

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 27, 2011
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Poison Maps (“POIs on maps”) is a general purpose map app which takes a completely different approach to other such apps. This makes it uniquely useful in many situations, and also enables it to include the ultimate POI watch app.

The app contains over 20 million POIs of pretty much every type possible, which are taken from the fantastic OpenStreetMap database and stored offline on the phone. These enable your watch to find the nearest POIs of any type, anywhere in the world, even without a data connection.

The simple 3x3 menus mean that hundreds of different POI types are available with just 2 or 3 taps:

Watch_Main.pngWatch_Menu_Transport.jpg Watch_Results_London_Stations.png

The app runs natively on the watch for speed. The use of offline POIs also means that it is faster than other POI apps which have to go to the web for data. This speed difference is particularly important on a wearable device where short interaction times are essential.

Watch_Results_Lodging_Berlin.png Watch_Results_FastFood.png Watch_Results_Pubs.png

Once you have a list of results then it’s only one further tap to see details about the POI. This offers a choice of operations including:
  • getting guidance from the built-in Apple Maps app.
  • phoning the POI from the watch;
  • displaying multiple maps of the POI (including a close up map, a zoomed out map, and the nearest stations).
Watch_Map1.png Watch_Map2.png Watch_Map3.png

There are also loads of other features, such as
  • creating your own POIs (e.g. where you parked your car);
  • filtering by brand or type;
  • prioritising your favourite brands or types (e.g. your bank; your preferred religion; your make of car; hotel chains for which you have a loyalty card etc).
Check out this 2 minute video of the watch app in action:


And read more about it here: http://www.poison-maps.com/Watch.html

There is also a fully working, actual size demo of the Watch app within the iPhone app itself. This means that iPhone owners who are thinking of getting an Apple Watch can see the type of functionality that they will get.

Watch_Demo_40.png

If you wish to try out the app then bear in mind that the global version is 669 Mb, so you may wish to install the one of the 10 free versions. For example the free North American version is only 72 Mb (only about twice the size of the Google Maps app), despite containing 3 million POIs and over 600,000 miles of routes. All of the free versions include most POI categories, with the remainder available as a single In App Purchase for 99c / 79p.

Global version: http://appstore.com/poisonmaps
Free North American version: http://appstore.com/poisonmapsnorthamerica
Free UK version: http://appstore/poisonmapsukandireland

If you do try out the watch app then please take a look at the iPhone app as well, which is a general purpose maps app but very different to Apple Maps or Google Maps (there is no point re-inventing the wheel!). As the name indicates it is geared towards POIs, with an emphasis on being as useful as possible when offline. It has many unique features, such as 3D touch gestures for zooming/panning; signs to offscreen POIs; Compass Mode for offline navigation; and much more.

Please give it a try!
 
Bought the UK version with the additional POI package. First impressions - very comprehensive range of POI's and Watch app loads quickly and intuitive to navigate. I'm going to need to spend some time working through the Settings on iPhone, of which there are many. I'm assuming that Settings and created POI's are synced across devices?
 
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Many thanks for trying the app out and buying the additional POIs. The settings are indeed synced between phone and watch. It is easier to specify favourites and edit the created POIs on the phone than on the watch, although creating a POI for the current location is easiest on the watch if you don't want to customise it (e.g. to simply create one called "My Car" or "My Hotel").

Thanks again for the feedback. Please let me know how you get on with the settings. I have probably gone a bit over the top in terms of just how much you can customise, but I know that different people use apps in different ways, so the more flexible I could make it the better.
 
That displays public transport details as well as the type of POIs that you have selected. When looking at some POIs it can be useful to also see the nearest stations, railway lines, bus stops or bus routes. This button allows them to be quickly toggled on or off.

Unfortunately if there are no public transport POIs or routes in the displayed area then it looks like it isn't doing anything, so I understand why you are confused. I will add a message to the user when they click it for the first time, as I do for some of the other buttons.

This demonstrates how useful the signs are, because they show where the nearest POIs are even when they are not in the visible map area. Unfortunately I can't use signs for public transport in this situation because they are already used to show the nearest POIs of the selected type.

Thanks for this - it's very useful feedback.
 
Wonderful App! I downloaded the North America App and purchased the expansion pack.

now the App has downloaded the expansion data and it is displaying on my iPhone App. The expansion data has not yet migrated to the watch. what do I do to expedite the data transfer to the watch. I am on 9.2 latest beta and Watch OS 2.0.1.
 
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Thanks for the kind words. I have been working full-time on the iPhone app for many years because I believe that it is original and uniquely useful, but I have made practically no sales on it. I am giving it one last go at marketing it, in the hope that the watch app and unique new 3D touch zoom/pan gesture can help get some media coverage.

Unfortunately it seems most blogs and review sites are only interested in games. I can see from the view counts on the Youtube videos I send that they don't even watch them, which is frustrating. People seem to love it when I demo it to them, and a very high proportion of users buy the expansion pack, which is a good sign. However a high proportion of a low number doesn't mean much. I make about $2 a week on it, which is a bit depressing after years of work!

Apologies that you are not seeing the expansion pack data on the watch. If you restart both the iPhone app and the watch app and then it should appear on the watch.

It's a bug that will be fixed in the next version but slipped by my testing. In my defence Apple's test systems had a bug that meant that I couldn't test the expansion pack until I released it, which didn't help!

Let me know if restarting the apps fixes the problem, and thanks again for the feedback.

And here are those videos if anyone wants to see what else the app can do:

Introduction:

3D Touch Gesture:

Compass Modes:

Metro Maps:
 
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I rebooted both the watch and the iPhone. No luck the pack is still not
Loading.

I am running the latest developer build of 9.2. Could that be the issue?

Great app! A lot of passion!

I know you will fix this issue!
 
That's great! In my testing since the release I had noticed that it works 9 times out of 10, but if I was unlucky then a restart of both apps fixed it for me. I guess it was actually just the delay in waiting a while rather than restarting the apps that sorted it (or maybe both).

The reason for the problem is that I used some new technology in watch OS2 that synchronises information between the watch and the phone, but it does it in the background when it feels like it. This works immediately most of the time but occasionally doesn't. I had found that restarting the apps fixed it, but maybe that just gave it time to synchronise.

I have rewritten it use a more suitable approach in the next version (due before Xmas) so it should work immediately for everyone.

Sorry about that. Many thanks for looking into it, and I'm glad it resolved itself in the end. Enjoy the app!
 
You have a branding issue. A huge one.

The name Poison ("hmm, don't like the sound of that") and the skull icon ("must be a silly zombie game") are extremely off-putting.

The app, OTOH, is amazing. I've had the ability for view POIs for years on portable GPS navigation units (Tomtom) but never used it because it's neither fast nor easy. Your app changes that, particularly on the watch. You've put an incredible amount of effort and care into it and your app deserves more recognition.

Get the branding right and customers will stop avoiding it or skimming over it in the App Store. You owe your app that.
 
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You are not the first person to point that out. Marketing is definitely not my strong point! I thought that the "POIs on Maps" play on words, and just having "Poison" in the name, would make it memorable (which I believe it is) but you are right that it probably does put a lot of people off in the first place.

The trouble is that it would probably take several months to rebrand it completely, which I haven't really got. If this version doesn't at least make some money then I need to find a job that pays! The icon would be easier to change but I have spent the last few weeks sending all the marketing stuff to blogs and review sites (albeit with absolutely no response) so I don't want to change that either in case they eventually get around to looking at it.

Thanks for the feedback and nice words about the app. If it does finally take off then I will probably get someone who knows what they are doing to sort out the branding. I'll stick to coding!
 
I like it! Initially the signs were the main unique feature of the app (in some ways they still are). So I tried to make them part of the name but failed. But I didn't think of them as POInters rather than signs...
 
What a brilliant app - happily paid the 79p for the expansion pack
Hope sales take off as this is the sort of app that deserves success (far more so than the tens of thousands of crappy freemium games!)
 
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Thanks for the kind words guys. Given the almost non-existent sales and lack of interest from blogs and websites, I must admit that the feedback on this thread is pretty heartening.

And I agree that a dog icon would be much better than a skull!
 
cfc said:
Thanks for the kind words guys. Given the almost non-existent sales and lack of interest from blogs and websites, I must admit that the feedback on this thread is pretty heartening.
Click to expand...
This is such a shame but seems to be typical of the App store these days. Unless your app is elevated, few will find it amongst the huge quantity of piffle.

The AppleTV fares even worse as, in the UK at least these aren't even any categories so finding stuff is virtually impossible unless its a "best seller" or large named brand that Apple choose to elevate.

I've heard similar complaints before - an immediate example is that there are a number of excellent calendar apps (and a lot, lot more poor ones) but only one of them ever gets featured here, every time they do any update.

I think it really would help with a name and icon change ASAP and then keep pushing those blogs!
 
I guess that there is a way to approach the reviews sites and blogs that I haven't mastered. I have sent many emails to new sites over the years and never heard anything back. Most of them state that they don't have time to read every email, and I assume that mine fail whatever criteria they use to filter them.

I'm not surprised that MacRumors never reply as they don't run many stories about apps. Even when they do it is usually about a big player rather than "Here's this this obscure but interesting app". That sort of post is more likely from the bloggers rather than the news sites, but I haven't had much joy there either. I have only ever had one response back from a blog, which was back in March, but even he wasn't interested this time (which was a shame as it was my favourite blog).

I had hopes that MacRumors may do a post about the 3D Touch panning gesture in the app (which I think is truly unique and therefore of interest to anyone with a 6S), but that didn't interest them either. I'll keep trying though!
 
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cfc said:
I guess that there is a way to approach the reviews sites and blogs that I haven't mastered. I have sent many emails to new sites over the years and never heard anything back. Most of them state that they don't have time to read every email, and I assume that mine fail whatever criteria they use to filter them.

I'm not surprised that MacRumors never reply as they don't run many stories about apps. Even when they do it is usually about a big player rather than "Here's this this obscure but interesting app". That sort of post is more likely from the bloggers rather than the news sites, but I haven't had much joy there either. I have only ever had one response back from a blog, which was back in March, but even he wasn't interested this time (which was a shame as it was my favourite blog).

I had hopes that MacRumors may do a post about the 3D Touch panning gesture in the app (which I think is truly unique and therefore of interest to anyone with a 6S), but that didn't interest them either. I'll keep trying though!
Click to expand...
Some random thoughts...
It would be a great shame to give up on the app, given all the hard work you've put in.
When you contact review sites and blogs, is it just with an email, or a press release?
Do you supply a code for a free app download to review?
Have you thought about talking to a marketing agency with experience in promoting apps?
Have you looked at Search Engine Optimisation to ensure that search queries such as "Apple Watch maps app" or "iOS maps app" bring up your details?
And forums for Apple products, like MacRumors?
 
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