In last Wednesday’s post, we highlighted ten of the best Baltimore-related apps for the iPhone. There were a lot of must-have offerings from developers as diverse as the Ravens, Wham City, WYPR, and of course, yours truly. Today though we’re going to dig even deeper into the App Store.
Today’s offerings are a little more specialized, so they won’t be for everyone. But Hell, you just might discover something you didn’t know you needed until now. An iPhone is just an iPhone until you start filling it with the music and contacts and apps that make up your life, and here are 10 choices that might make your phone a little more personal and your life a little more Charmed. All apps are free to download unless otherwise noted.
Charm City Circulator The CCC app works great, and should serve as a model for all transit apps everywhere. It helps you keep the lines and stops straight and can find you on a map to point you to the nearest stop. It also lets you know when the next bus is coming. Not scheduled to come but actually coming. It’s worth carrying for that alone. Recommended.
TransitGuru Maryland MTA This app is a complete waste of $1.99. Even for someone like us who is without a car and rides transit often, it is absolutely worthless. It’s just a big clunky database of stops and timetables and doesn’t give you any real information. We recommend bookmarking the MTA’s individual web pages for Bus, Light Rail, and Subway service and referring to those, which work quickly and easily in their mobile versions and provide maps and timetables without hogging storage on your phone. Not recommended.
Explore Baltimore Heritage This is the rare app that’s useful to both visitors and locals alike. The main feature is a map of historic buildings and sites, and a touch of each pin on the map reveals a detailed history of that location. Also included are several themed walking tours, audio history, photos and a whole lot more. A must have for anyone with even a mild interest in history. Highly Recommended.
Soundscape Just last week we were walking outside Oriole Park and stopped for a moment to appreciate the unique 360° sounds around us. Vendors, ticket hawkers, crowds and the ballpark PA in the background. We though we might make a recording but didn’t know quite what to do with it. Now we know. The Hearing and Speech Agency created the Baltimore Soundscape Project to record the sounds and moments just like that all over the city. Record any sound you find interesting to share with the project, and listen to sounds recorded by others. And as a bonus you’re creating a valuable educational tool for children with disabilities. Recommended.
Bikram Yoga Baltimore We’re no great fan of Yoga, so we won’t be carrying this app on our phone. But Yoga is more popular than ever and if you enjoy it this app and a separate one from Charm City Yoga make it incredibly easy to browse class times and instructors and book reservations. Recommended.
Real Food Farm We first told you about Real Food Farm back in 2010, and since then they’ve been growing bigger and better all the time. Now they’re out with their own iPhone app which is a great resource for keeping track of daily mid-week farmers’ markets and mobile stops. You can even build a shopping list, browse recipes, and get home delivery all in the app. If you can’t make it to the farmers’ market, now it can come to you! this app is especially useful if you live in Northeast Baltimore. The further you live from Clifton park, the less use you’re likely to get from it. Highly recommended.
Woodlands & Diamond Ridge Golf Course This app is made for the Woodlands and Diamond Ridge golf courses in Baltimore County, but there are also separate apps for all the other county courses; Greystone, Rocky Point and Fox Hollow. You can pick your favorite or download them all and put them in your ‘golf’ collection. These apps are surprisingly thorough with tee times, weather, GPS yardage, course guidelines, directions, and much more. We wish there were similar apps for the city’s public courses. Recommended.
MD Civil War Trails This app from the Maryland Office of Tourism is a complete statewide guide to 225 Civil War sites and their history with photos and descriptions by location. It’s a great way to plan a day or weekend trip with info on hotels, dining and attractions along the way. Recommended.
Gwynns Falls Trail The Parks and People Foundation has put a lot of time and money into building and improving the Gwynns Falls Trail and this app is an extension of that. Casual or one-time users may not realize much benefit from this app, but if you live near the trail and like to hike or bike it often this is probably well worth the 99 cent download. It’s got offline maps and GPS for all parts of the trail as well as many more features.
Ocean City Mobile There are two Ocean City themed apps on the app store, but after downloading and tooling around with both of them we recommend going with the “official” version which seems to work a lot better. It’s a thorough listing of hotels and motels as well as dining and nightlife, events, and more. If you want to run downy oshen at the last minute, this app makes it easy to book a room on the fly while you’re stuck in Bay Bridge traffic.
What are some of your favorite Baltimore Based apps? Have one you love that didn’t make our list? Got some news on a new app being developed? Let us know about it in the comments.