Thoughtfulness Zen of the Moment 3

Probably one of the underrated parts of the third generation iPhone (3GS) is its digital compass, which may evoke questions about its utility until a user actually uses it on the road. The potential utility of this compass gave me some excitement when I saw the iPhone GPS navigation app demo by TomTom the day the iPhone 3GS was announced, because it completed the last requirement necessary to make turn-by-turn GPS work seamlessly - your car's heading.

Now, with location-aware devices coupled with a map like Google Maps, it was already possible to navigate with steps of directions and your currently tracked location. But as anyone who has tried driving with any navigational aid knows, knowing the orientation of the streets grid relative to your direction is immensely more useful than driving with north fixed as upward.

Unfortunately, the TomTom GPS navigation app is not yet released, but one of the most accessible sample implementations right now is in the bundled Google Maps application, which cleverly displays heading in the form of car headlight beams. Moment of zen.