Finder is mapping app that lets you see and save your current location on a interactive Google map. It also provides the capability of showing arbitrary locations entered as addresses, or as latitude and longitude coordinates, and then providing directions to this and any saved locations, such as where you parked you car at the big football game or Mall of America parking lot. Any location can be saved and driving or walking directions from your current location to that saved location can be requested. Finder also works with other Finder apps and the SafeText apps to allow you to request location information from a friend, colleague, relative, etc. and show their location and get directions to them. Imagine a daughter, son, spouse, or grandparent on a long trip by themselves. If each of you have an active Finder app on your Android phones, you can track their progress without disturbing them (hands and eyes-free), and if they are overdue at their destination or need help, you can get directions to their last reported location. You can also send your location at any time, or automatically in response to a request from another Finder app and if they have their Finder app running, they will see your location on a map. If you have a SafeText app, a friend with a Finder app can send you a text message and get your location back as a response text, and then show it on a map.
Finder requires a text-to-speech engine on your Android phone to make announcements. Look in Settings>Voice Input & Output>Text-to-speech Settings. If Pico TTS is listed that will work. If Pico TTS or some other TTS app is not on your phone you will need to download and install the free text-to-speech app TTS Expanded Service (tts_3.1_market.apk) from http://code.google.com/p/eyes-free/downloads/list . Once installed, you can select the speaker's accent (English US or UK, Spanish Italian, German, or French) and desired speaking speed (from very slow to very fast) by opening the TTS app. The TTS Extended Service app can be downloaded, installed, and used even if the Pico TTS app is already installed on your phone.
Can't remember how an app function or feature works? Tap the app's Red i button (at the top right hand position of the screen) at anytime to view information about the function and features of this app.
Feature Details
Tap the Show My Location button to see your current location on the map. Once the map opens, your position will be shown with a red balloon marker and a balloon caption “My Location.” You can scroll the map and zoom in and out using your finger and the map controls on the screen. Tap the map outside the balloon caption to hide the caption. Tap the marker to restore the caption. Tap the caption to get additional information about this location. Tap your phone's Back button to return to Finder's main screen.
To save your current location (and that of your car, hotel, rental car return, fabulous eating establishment, etc.) tap the Save Current Location button, and enter a name for the location so that you can find it later in the list of saved locations. The saved location name, time and date, together with the location details will be displayed in blue text. To show a saved location, tap the Show button and select a location from the list of saved locations. Tap the Clear button and select a location to remove it from the list of saved locations, or close the list without selecting a location (by tapping the phone's Back button) to clear the displayed location information without removing it from the list. After taping the Clear button, the number of saved locations will be displayed where the previous saved location information was displayed. Tap the Directions To button, and select a location from the list of saved locations to get directions to that location from your current location.
