Appiphilia: Free iPhone app helps navigate Washington during Obama’s inauguration

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WASHINGTON -- The nip in the air in our nation’s capital should be enough to make a Californian know she’s not in Kansas anymore. The bare trees, unfamiliar streets teeming with people and the sight of numerous taxis help too. All over our nation’s capital, there are breakfasts, brunches, lunches and balls to attend. How do you figure out what’s where and how to get there?

As with most things, there’s an iPhone app to help visitors feel a bit less like Dorothy in Oz.

2009 Presidential Inauguration Guide (free)

What it is: Truth in advertising here. It is a guide that lists events and eating and entertainment options in Washington, Metro schedules, nearby happenings and updates and alerts for the week.

What sizzles: Being able to figure out in a tap what’s going on is a blessing. For instance, I can see that Oprah Winfrey’s Inauguration Celebration is about a 1.5 miles from my hotel at 1 p.m. and that the Illinois State Society Inaugural Dinner is about 0.2 mile away -- and I can see all of the nearby events for today plotted on a Google map of the city. Where’s Wi-Fi? The app will find you the nearby hot spots as well as Starbucks (even if all you had to really do is look up from your screen to see one on just about every block).

What fizzles: Although you can see the events plotted on the map, you can’t tap the icons to launch the information. So without tapping back to the main listing, you can’t see what’s what, just that something is happening in that spot. That adds an extra step of work.

The interactive element does let you talk back in the form of answers to poll questions. But you can’t skip questions to progress through the list, and you can’t see the results on your iPhone. You have to use a PC or Mac.

Bottom line: Although out-of-towners like me could hope to just follow the biggest crowd to figure out the next destination, the inauguration guide is a handy tool in navigating the nation’s capital with purpose.

-- Michelle Maltais

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