by Atlas by Collins is a very attractive app. It doesn’t hope to compete with the amount of data you can unearth by searching Google, but you’ll find much more than just the essentials, presented in an easy-to-use, self-contained app.
Offering access to seven different globes grouped into three collections, the app covers everything from standard atlases to people, energy consumption, and production, as well as our impact on the planet — with more promised in the future. Only one of those is part of the initial download, so you’ll need to download the others manually within the app. All six are free, but the app balloons from the listed 620MB to 1.1GB in the process, so do allow for the additional space.
Once you’ve chosen a globe to explore, you can rotate and zoom in at will, and even activate your device’s built-in gyroscope to try and navigate using that. If you zoom in too much, the app will switch to your device’s built-in Maps (which is Google’s on iOS5 or Apple’s for iOS6), but unlike the rest of the app, you can’t access these maps without an internet connection.
Aside from the default globe, all of the others come with a series of useful overlays that help you see specific information at a glance and help you explore the world in different ways. For example, you can check the oceans’ depths, details of various political and economic organizations, or location of the world’s remaining energy reserves. Tap on any ‘i’ button to get additional information over a subject or the country or town you’re currently hovering over. You can also type a city or country and be taken straight there.
The app lags a bit, though, and switching between globes or applying an overlay isn’t a fast process, but at least rotating and zooming is very smooth. And while the information is clearly laid out and easy to understand, it’s a bit spartan when describing cities, for instance.
The bottom line. For those with an interest in geography (whether for school or otherwise), Atlas by Collins’ beautiful maps and wealth of data put a lot at your fingertips, with more expected to come in future updates.
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