Bring your own maps with this iPhone app

CoPilot Live Premium HD navigation app
$9.99 for Android devices; $14.99 for Apple iOS Devices at Apple App Store.

Now that Apple is providing free turn-by-turn driving directions on the iPhone, there’s no need to buy a separate navigation app. But this one is so cool that you might want to purchase it anyhow.

The CoPilot Live lets you download maps of the entire United States, so you can keep the maps permanently on your phone. That way you can look up navigation data even when you’re offline. The maps take up around three gigabytes of storage space, but you can economize by downloading packages of regional maps--for instance, if you rarely leave New England, download the northeastern US.map pack.

Also, CoPilot Live can work on the iPod Touch, a device that doesn’t have a built-in GPS chip. That’s because it can use signals from nearby Wi-Fi hotspots to calculate where you are. It’s not as precise as GPS, but it’ll do in a pinch.

CoPilot Live has a bunch of other clever features. If you use your iDevice to take geo-tagged photos, CoPilot can instantly display a map showing where each picture was taken. I also like the animated driving route preview that explains exactly how to get where you’re going. In all, CoPilot Live has enough smart features to justify its quite reasonable price.