John Moore has become quite the golf addict of us late so I’m going to try to lure him into the world of video games this week with a charming, whimsical miniature golf game for the iPad, plus we’ll look at how GPS can be used to grab quick, local details on both the weather and real estate listings.
Realtor.ca
Free
By tapping into the GPS on your phone, Realtor.ca can pull up detailed listings and photo galleries for all the properties in your neighbourhood or any point on a map. It’s the same level of detailed information as you’ll find on their website, but better organized on your phone where you can select listings for comparison, add Open Houses to your calendar, and create a tour of the listings you like using Microsoft’s Bing maps, complete with driving directions.
With the Filters menu you can really customize the default search the app does each time you use it. Are you interested in residential or commercial? Places to buy or rent? From there you can even narrow it down to the number of bedrooms or amenities such as a fireplace or pool. This makes it very easy to glance at the newest listings, even if all you have are a few moments while waiting in line or taking a bus.
Wonderputt
$0.99
This is miniature golf like you’ve never seen before. A charming, detailed playset full of imaginative obstacles and surprises. It’s easy to putt the ball. You simply tap on it, pull back, and let go, but the path it takes can be very unpredictable as there are many surfaces to rebound off of and the courses themselves can change as if they are alive. Falling asteroids will create sand traps for you to fall into, snowstorms can create sudden ski trails, and a waterfall system inspired by M.C. Escher while keep you wondering which way your ball will flow when you send it into the water.
All these elements are rendered with a beautiful storybook sensibility and a wonderful sense of whimsical humour. After a series of sped-up cows chew out a path for you in a field, they’re quickly abducted away by aliens. When a submarine becomes trapped in a frozen lake, you must use the ball to build a missile that will free it. The visual stories of the landscape are just as engaging as the trick shots and angles you need to master to win the game.
If you like the music from the game, you can buy it here.
The Weather Network
Free
With a new update The Weather Network can now tap into the GPS on your phone and deliver a customized forecast for the one kilometer area surrounding you. It’s a feature called PointCast and it can also be used by typing in a postal code, not just the postal code for your home, but for any location in Canada including places like golf courses and ski resorts. These reports include details for pollen, air quality, and Ultra-Violet radiation levels.
How can they deliver such localized information? The Weather Network’s meteorologists have divided the country into a one kilometer grid. By combining geographical information about each square with special algorithms, they can adjust the main weather information collected by their sensors. So no, this isn’t the result of costly new satellites or new weather stations hidden next to your home, but simply better math.
