At the last Apple event, Scott Forstall (SVP iPhone Software) announced turn-by-turn GPS would be coming for iPhone 3.0 -- with a little downer: due to licensing restrictions, Apple cannot pass on the right to use the built in Google Map (Tele Atlas) map tiles for turn-by-turn interfacing. Apple charmingly called this B.Y.O.M "bring your own maps" somehow neglecting that there's not too many competitors being able to provide "own maps".

Sidestep: The discussion still is if turn-by-turn (TbT) makes tremendous sense on mobile devices at all (imagine people running around on pathways being guided by synthetic voices).

Maybe just providing better or more relevant maps is a big gain for mobile people. Seeing your position being updated as you move (as the device knows where it is) and checking your bearing (as the device knows its direction) already adds up to a much better user experiences than Google Maps / Tele Atlas vehicle maps provide today.

Let's walk through the shortlist of Apple's B.Y.O.M. candidates briefly:

1. XRoad currently has G-Map as an on-board solution in the App Store. Two versions, to be true: G-Map US East and West - both use Navteq data and weigh a whopping 854 MB and sell at 19,99$. "Everything from a standalone GPS unit appears to be there, yet it’ll all be part of your phone." as quoted.
2. Navigon partners with T-Mobile (in Germany at least) announcing an iPhone application based on its MobileNavigator 7 suite.
   
3. Derivates using OpenStreetMap's tiles like OffMaps and more to come direct you to OSM, lets the user decide which OSM-tiles to store on the device. If offline, precached tiles are used - being online, tiles are requested from the site. It's a fair price at 2,39€.
4. TomTom's Mobile unit will use Tele Atlas maps and announced an offboard version of TomTom Navigator - taking the same street maps that Google Maps uses.
   
5. Navteq/Nokia likely will offer the same - just deployed on ovi.com and made compatible to S60 devices.
   

So basically it's the well-known struggle Navteq/Tele Atlas ported to just another playground.

Oh, we forgot one: ourselves, United Maps.

We do licence maps from either Navteq or Tele Atlas and generate better, higher detailed and fully routable maps for mobile usecases. We produce maps on a comprehensive basis, country by country with a full set of editorial quality control, public mass transit included. The difference the map makes: United Maps' content quality doesn't drop outside major cities (as OpenStreetMaps' does neccessarily).

This, at least, was our initial idea. Now, as things change quickly - we change accordingly and jump into the arena. United Maps goes United Apps - why not just take our maps, contain them with smart functionality, constrain ourselves to frequently traveled destinations worldwide and ... voilá United Apps isn't stretched too far.

A United App on any appstore could use the same functionality and package it with various city areas around the globe (as we positively tested).

Could be more fun to explore cities from a truely pedestrian perspective?

John Nelson from IDV Solutions lists some really serious GIS projects at his Blog 'Designing Composite Applications':

• An alert management system to filter, escalate, and ideally prevent a doomsday scenario in one of the world's largest metropolitan areas.
• An executive research dashboard to provide a geographic means of unifying and presenting specific business data, community involvement, political representation, and populace demographics to quickly compile a background report for more confident, better informed executive visits.
• An interface to navigate the complex world of contractual workflows and provider relationships in the Healthcare industry using geography as the primary metaphor.
• A silverlight map interface to provide first and second responders access to post-Hurricane Ike reconnaissance imagery in order to prioritize relief efforts by identifying areas of greatest impact.
• A Spatial Wiki product where users can go nuts creating and editing a world of geographic data.
• A lightweight GIS editor used by traveling technicians to sketch fiber optic network possibilities in the field.
• A market optimization tool for a database marketing division to visually identify areas of marketing best fit and areas where opportunities for gain are strong by visually slicing and dicing the thematic map elements along a correlation scatterplot.
• A time series platform for a pharmaceutical company to track prescription patterns along time-space in order to recognize trends and proactively identify areas of focus.

Best application in section Infotainment:

Earthcomber. These guys are working on ways to exploit GPS technology in mobile phones. Their winning entry involved a partnership with the Travel Channel where a visitor to Chicago could choose to be informed of attractions and sites around his or her current location.

Wonder why they put them into "Infotainment" ... and gosh: they've taken my favorite claim "your personal radar" ... nevertheless: all the best, folks!