Every day, we hear people ask how far away somewhere is, and frequently, our answer is an estimation. For some, it’s drive time, and for others, it’s miles (or kilometers) driven. Now, developer Ribaba has given iOS users the ability to find a more accurate distance between points on a map.
Overview:
Measure Your Land (free in the iOS App Store) us a unique application that allows you to measure distance and area using satellite view on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad. Whether it’s the square footage of a property, the straight distance between two points, or the distance of your bike ride across Iowa, Measure Your Land allows you to find the distance or area of any point(s) on the map.
Measure Your Land’s user interface can be somewhat tricky, as there aren’t any directions or help information. Once you are able to drop a pin on the map (press and hold over a spot on the map), scroll to your next pin location, and drop a marker.
Measuring distance will begin calculating as soon as you have two or more pins on the screen, and is enabled by selecting the line tool. Measuring area occurs by selecting the the pentagon, and dropping three or more pins. Once you have your area’s perimeter marked by pins, click the “sum” key ( ∑ ) and your area is displayed.
Measure Your Land also features a wide range of measurement units for distance and area calculation, including Imperial, US Common, SI, Chinese, Surveyor’s (US & UK), and several others. The wide range of measurement systems make the app much more universal, which can be helpful for international or unit-specific calculations.
Measure Your Land also allows you to store and share your measurements and calculations. Saving your calculations is done by clicking the “save” icon in the top right corner. Once a measurement is saved, clicking “save + email” allows you to send it to others in a standardized .kml file (universal for most mapping programs).
Verdict: [rating: 4]
The functionality of Measure Your Land is unmatched within the App Store, and that makes it truly unique. The use of Google’s mapping technology makes using Measure Your Land intuitive, although it may pose a problem when iOS 6 is opened to the public. The lack of directions makes starting off in Measure Your Land a little confusing, but once you get the hang of it’s function, it becomes fairly straight-forward.
Pros
- Ability to save and share distance/area calculation
- Wide range of measurement units
- Ability to view multiple measurements on one map
Cons
- Menus lack labeling or definition
- No directions or help
At the low price of Free, give Measure Your Land a try. (iOS App Store Link)
