Another update of our App Gallery brings some new  examples of impressive CloudMade-powered apps and shows how location continues to enhance user experiences for web and mobile services. The range of applications presented in our app gallery is becoming really wide, and it now includes such categories as Navigation, Travel, Business, Reference, Healthcare and Fitness, Utilities, Entertainment and Productivity. Here you can see some newly added apps that we’ve found especially interesting.

Fahrtenbuch is a must-have app for anyone who needs to track mileage for tax deduction or reimbursement. This app is the #1 choice “driver’s log” in Germany, and it is the first one to have full iCal integration. CloudMade Geocoding and Routing services have been used in it.

Choosing a restaurant or a bar for the evening? Drinktown will help you to make that choice by telling you about all the food and drink specials near you. The website is updated daily by tens of thousands of members, and it is very easy to use since it allows you to sort data by day of the week, special type or just browse the beautifully styled map to find nearby deals.

With the Next Time iPhone app using reminders has become extremely efficient, since it now takes into account your location. You can create a list of locations and set reminders for those. Next Time will run in the background to alert you of your reminders the next time you’re at the location. The app is using CloudMade Geocoding and Map Tiles.

TrackMyJourney-Mobile is a multi-function recreational navigation and mapping application for Java/J2ME and BlackBerry phones. It receives its location coordinates by communicating via Bluetooth with a separate GPS receiver, or via the phones internal GPS if supported. The data is then sent to TrackMyJourney website where you can then share your location and recorded tracks with your friends. The app uses CloudMade Geocoding, Map Tiles, Routing, StyleEditor and Web Maps API.

French cycling fans might get interested in Geovelo – a cycling route planner that uses OpenStreetMap data and takes into account not only distance, but also safety. Geovelo maps created with CloudMade Style Editor perfectly complement the impressive design of the website.

You can see more location based apps that use CloudMade services in our App Gallery. If you are interested in trying out those free tools and APIs  yourself, sign up to our Developer Zone.  And maybe your outstanding app will be among thoses featured in our App Gallery soon!

Our app gallery is growing fast, and with every new addition it’s clear that combining  CloudMade’s tools and services with great ideas and skills from developers results in some extremely powerful, compelling products. Take a look at some of  the latest updates to our gallery below:

Galileo Offline Maps is a mobile app that can be used on a daily basis or while traveling. This app allows users to import maps from a computer to an iPhone or iPad and then view them in offline mode. Being able to choose from five attractive CloudMade map styles makes the use of the app a real pleasure. CloudMade tools used to create this app include Geocoding, Routing and Style Editor.

“CloudMade provides plenty of stylish and good-looking map styles which please even the most fastidious users.” – Evgen Bodunov, galileo-app.com

Travelers who own Macs should be really excited about Knapsack 2 app. This new version of Outer Level’s personal travel planner, built with our Geocoding and Web Maps Studio, adds interactive maps with street level detail and world-wide search. Knapsack allows you to lay out your travel plans, destinations, activities, and can be even used as a trip journal.

“Our customers wanted a searchable world map with street level detail and CloudMade was the perfect solution.” – Jon Trainer, Knapsack

iGMap proves that products created with CloudMade tools are not only really cool, but can also meet the most diverse needs. iGMap iPhone app is a virtual GPS designed for use with the desktop flight simulators. It provides a wireless hand-held moving map display to aid navigation, especially useful on VFR flights, while saving valuable screen real-estate on the desktop, and uses iOS devices to display the current position of the aircraft. The app was built with CloudMade’s StyleEditor and Web Maps API.

“CloudMade services allow a small company to deliver cutting edge mapping solutions while targeting a niche market – without the prohibitive cost.” – Fermin Fernandez, FSWidgets

Thanks to developers of Map My Tracks, outdoor sports and fitness enthusiasts have their own social network now. With this website they can easily track, review & share outdoor activities with friends & family. Map My Tracks provides a comprehensive range of tools to help better understand how your training session went and keep a central log of all your outdoor activities.

“The flexibility of CloudMade’s API mean that we can always deliver the maps we want.” – Nick Tatt, Map My Tracks

If you like Map My Tracks and plan to use it, you should really consider complementing it with this OutFront app. Not only will this app allow you to measure speed, pace, calories burned, duration, elevation gain/loss and much more for each activity you do, but it will also give you an an easy way to share information about your outdoor activities live on Map My  Tracks, Facebook or Twitter. CloudMade Map Tiles, Static Maps and iPhone SDK were used to create this app.

“Using CloudMade’s iPhone SDK made it super easy to add maps to our iPhone app. That, and reliability make CloudMade our first choice map provider.” - Nick Tatt, Map My Tracks

Cycling fans will enjoy using Bike Hub, also  called a ’satnav for cyclists’. It displays clever short-cuts and bicycle-friendly routes on OpenCycleMap, cutting journey times for many users. The feature I really like is ‘bike shop finder – a simple button that can call up UK bike shops within a six mile radius of an iPhone.  Map Tiles and iPhone SDK are CloudMade tools used in this app.

“Cloudmade API provides the slippy maps within the app and helps to fast-track the development of all the map interactions that users have.” – Carlton Reid, BikeHub.co.uk

Want to see more CloudMade-powered apps?  Check out our Application Gallery.

Inspired by these cool examples and feel that you could create something great yourself? Sign up to our developer zone and try out our free tools and services.

Fans of various outdoor activities will find Scout, a very useful navigation app for the iPhone. With Scout you can make use of topographic maps for hiking adventures or check out your training data with the integrated speedometer, or use it for cycling and other activities to record your route for subsequent analysis.  CloudMade services used to create the app include: Geocoding, Map Tiles, Static Maps, and Style Editor to ensure the best quality user experience.

“CloudMade is the best supplier of data for OpenStreetMap. We like their tools and services a lot. They comply with our high standards.” – Joerg Nestele, MagicMaps

Finding a place a place to live is not an easy decision.  If this is you and you live in London in the UK, then another CloudMade-powered app, Where Can I Live is just what you need. This web service is for people looking for an affordable home with an acceptable commuting distance to work. You can specify criteria such as maximum travel time, number of bedrooms and maximum price and you’ll get suggestions for properties that suit your needs displayed on a beautifully styled and convenient to use map, created with the help of CloudMade’s Style Editor.

“The Style Editor allowed us to match the map color scheme to our brand, disable unimportant map features, while highlighting others.” – M. Metten, Lokku Ltd

Small businesses, entrepreneurs and marketers who cannot afford the money and time associated with traditional market research, should really get acquainted with Ask Your Target Market (AYTM)– an online, self-service market research web application with a built-in U.S. consumer panel. AYTM uses CloudMade Web Maps API and Style Editor to integrate maps into its service.

“We are thrilled with the elegance of the CloudMade maps platform. It allowed us to customize the maps to blend right in with the overall experience of our app.” - Lev Mazin, AskYourTargetMarket.com

Polymaps, is hot off the press and now featured in our App Gallery. It has already gained huge popularity among the developers making interactive maps in web browsers. It’s a free JavaScript library that provides speedy display of multi-resolution geographic datasets with powerful dynamic styling through CSS and SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics). Polymaps can load both image and vector data at a full range of scales and is ideal for showing information from country level on down to states, cities, neighborhoods, and individual streets.

“CloudMade is the natural choice for integrating OpenStreetMap, thanks to flexible styling, realtime provisioning and friendly licensing.” – Michael Bostock, Stanford University

Living in the UK and looking for a good school to send your child to? Look no further than Schoolscope, an honest, independent, straightforward guide to how your local schools are getting on. The web site takes official Government-backed information about state schools in England and try to tease out something interesting from the dry tables of statistics – how well kids perform at school, how happy they are there. Schoolscope takes all that information and presents it in clear English, and understandable smiling faces. Its maps our powered by CloudMade’s Style Editor and Web Maps API.

“Maps are a key part of Schooloscope’s identity. CloudMade Custom Map Styles gave us the flexibility and integration options we needed.” - Tom Armitage, BERG

These are just a few examples of how CloudMade is helping developers around the world create really outstanding products. We’ll be bringing your more next month so stay tuned. In the meantime, check out our App Gallery for more cool apps powered by CloudMade.

All our services and tools are free so why not get coding and see what cool apps you can come up with.   Simply sign up for a developer account here, and start building the next best-selling location app today.

Tell us about your company or application(s)

My partner, Csongor Nemes, and I founded IZE in September 2008. We’re both enthusiastic about making the world a better place like other entrepreneurs. Having graduated with engineering degrees we both believed we had the skills to do that. Since then we delivered a really compelling application called OpenMaps.

OpenMaps for iPhone is a fast and easy to use map application that uses open map data from OpenStreetMap.org. It’s intended to be used as a general-purpose map application, offering features such as: downloadable maps, navigation for car, pedestrian and cyclists and local search. We predict OSM will soon be the de facto map used by people around the world and so our goal is to make OpenMaps the best OSM application available.

How has CloudMade helped your development process? Which tools did you use?

We use two of CloudMade’s web services: CustomMap Tiles and Routing in OpenMaps. The custom map tiles gives users an option to view the OSM map in a different style if they aren’t satisfied with the default one. The Routing gives navigation data with turn-by-turn route instructions which OpenMaps displays elegantly to the user.

What new CloudMade products really excite you?

The soon to be released location based advertising service is on the top of my list. I am curious to find out exactly how it will work, what exact business model it will use and of course what the revenue sharing percentages will be.

The second is the forthcoming freeform search. Search is crucial for a data service to be successful. What is the point of having data if it can’t be searched properly? I applaud CloudMade for innovating with freeform search.

What impact do you think location based advertising will have on independent developers like you?

It wouldn’t be a wise decision to pass on that revenue stream in my opinion. Analysts predict it will be huge. I have the same opinion.

What do you think the next big thing will be in geo-enabled apps?

I honestly don’t know, but we have a bet on what it could be. We are building it now and it will be available as a feature in OpenMaps but we don’t want to talk about it until we will release it.

What will be bigger iPhone or Nexus?

I don’t think Nexus will be bigger than the iPhone. Maybe another Android handset.

Any tips for submitting apps to Apple or Google?

Yes. Follow Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines and be sure to handle Location Services Denied errors if you are submitting an app that uses the device’s location services.

What developer publications / blogs / Tweeters do you read / follow?

I am @zssz on twitter and I follow some Mac nerds and devs too. Usually they inform me about new and noteworthy stuff that I need to know about in the Mac scene. Here are a few examples: @pilky @fraserspeirs @mattgemmell @nikf @mdhughes @ericasadun @iamleeg @thekarladam @bbum @scottstevenson @majicdave @joericioppo @wilshipley @alanQuatermain @ravenme @SteveStreza @mzarra @iTod @jeff_lamarche

What advice would you give other developers looking to emulate your success?

Be ambitious and strive for perfection.

Where does your company go from here?

The next big version of OpenMaps will include basic OSM editing. We are very excited about this. Imagine how cool it would be to be able to edit OpenStreetMap while on the go, modifying a bar’s tags while at that bar.

We have other big features planned too for OpenMaps and one of them is the reason we made the application in the first place. We’ve been developing it for over ~1.5 years now. Unfortunately I can’t reveal any more about it at this time. Only that it is coming and it will be BIG.

OffMaps – Offline maps on your iPhone or iPod touch

OffMaps is the smash hit iPhone application that lets you take your maps with you when you’re overseas and roaming. It’s also the perfect companion for iPod Touch users who’ve been buying OffMaps in droves.

OffMaps uses many of CloudMade’s iPhone SDK’s features including geocoding, local search, walking and vehicle directions to create a best selling user experience.

Dopplr – Social iPhone Travel Gudie

Dopplr is a must-have service for regular travellers and their free iPhone app is a must have for iPhone owners who travel regularly. Dopplr iPhone makes use of CloudMade’s Style Editor to add beautifully customised maps to the application.

CBS – Do Cameras Make Intersections More Dangerous?

Its not just iPhone apps that can benefit from CloudMade’s geo platform. Global broadcaster CBS have just started using Web Maps Studio – a suite of tools designed to make it easy for web developers to add customised maps, content and more to websites. The CBS Red Light Cameras site took only hours to put together and demonstrates how easy it is to use Web Maps Studio to create a customized, great looking sites that overlay content on maps.

Oakland Crimespotting – How safe is your neighbourhood?

Oakland Crimespotting is a fascinating site that lets Oakland residents – or anyone else – view crime statistics for the city. The site uses a custom map style, created using the Style Editor to give visitors a unique experience. The site’s creators, choose to using CloudMade’s Specialist Toolkit – a range of tools and APIs that let advanced geo developers create highly customised map based applications.

Find out more about building applications that use CloudMade’s geo platform.