The iOS built-in Maps app is considered by many as the most comprehensive and nicest-looking Google Maps client in a mobile device. Yet, it lacks a feature many had been yearning for ever since the iPhone was first introduced: a speedometer.
Thankfully, now there’s Speed for Maps, a jailbreak tweak for all iPhones running iOS 4 and above that adds this functionality to the built-in Maps app. Its implementation is very subtle and requires no additional setup: the second it’s installed, it will simply display a speed indicator indicator on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen whenever the Maps app is launched, as you can tell from the image below.
If the speedometer works as expected, it should, rather accurately display the speed you’re moving at using your device’s built-in GPS hardware. That goes without saying that you shouldn’t expect it to be as accurate as your car’s speedometer but it should work significantly well and prove a point nonetheless.
Speed for Maps also adds a new entry to the iOS Settings app, allowing users to select which unit the speedometer should use. While miles per hour is set as default, and should be the most suitable for most users, feet per second, kilometers per hour, meters per second and knots are also available at the user’s disposal. There are no additional settings available at the moment, yet there isn’t much that can be customized in a speedometer nonetheless.
In order to install this tweak, you first must jailbreak your iPhone. You can follow our step by step guide posted here to jailbreak your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch on iOS 4.3.5 using Redsn0w (or PwnageTool), or on iOS 4.3.3 using Redsn0w, PwnageTool, Sn0wbreeze & JailbreakMe (that last one being the easiest).
Lastly, it’s worth pointing out that Speed For Maps only works with the iPhone since it requires actual GPS hardware. The iPod touch and the iPad both boast location features through Wi-Fi triangulation but they’re nowhere near as accurate as a GPS chip.
You can get Speed for Maps from the BigBoss repository on Cydia absolutely free of charge.
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