Whether you're driving 20 miles or 2000, being able to find gas, grab a bite to eat, keep up with the news or check the map for your location are all essential to a good journey on the road. With the right iPhone apps, you can avoiding sticky situations like running out of gas or getting lost miles from home.

Recently, I drove across the country (Chicago to San Francisco) and got to experience the usefulness of iPhone apps on the road. From finding the nearest gas station to learning about the local scene, the iPhone was integral to my journey. The following are 11 of the most useful iPhone apps if you plan to embark on a road trip, or even just a drive across town:

iPhone apps for finding things









1. MapsBuddy: MapsBuddy is a popular application that makes searching on Google Maps easy. MapsBuddy provides quick shortcuts for finding gas stations, restaurants, post offices, and everything you'll need for the road.

2. SimulTravel GPS: If you're looking for a hotel for the night, a great app is SimulTravel GPS - it locates hotels near your location in a snap and provides prices and detailed information on each hotel.

3. Urbanspoon: Looking for food nearby? Then Urbanspoon is your best bet. Urbanspoon helps you find great restaurants based on your cravings. The key to its usefulness during road travel is its ability to show you restaurants nearby, no matter where you are.

4. Yelp: Yelp, the popular reviews-based social network, is also an iPhone app. It will detect your current location and give you reviews of hotels, restaurants, and even gas stations nearby.

5. Where To?: Another great app for finding things, Where To helps you find places of interest (i.e. zoos, spas, shopping centers). It does cost $2.99, but is worth it just for the "Surprise Me!" feature, which will help you pick where you want to stop if the group or family can't decide.

iPhone apps for information on the road









6. Road Trip: The most comprehensive road travel app of them all, Road Trip allows you to track mileage, fuel prices, graph out trip expenses, and even export the data to CSV. It costs $4.99, but there is also Road Trip LITE, which is free.

7. The Weather Channel: The weather can change in a snap, and thus you need to be prepared with knowledge. Although the iPhone has a standard weather app, The Weather Channel will provide you with weather conditions for your exact location, as well as radar maps and long-term forecasts.

8. WifiTrack: If you're on the road, there are things that you'll need to do that require Internet on your computer. But why pay for Wi-Fi when it can be found for free? WifiTrack helps determine the strength of WiFi hotspots and helps you find the ones that don't require you to pay. This app costs $0.99, so an alternative is Free Wi-Fi, which has less features and different functionality, but saves you a dollar.

Miscellaneous Useful Applications









9. Road Trip Fun: If you're bringing kids on the road, you need an easy way to entertain them. How about some games? Road Trip Games provides simple explanations for dozens of classic road games like I Spy and Where's the Alphabet?

10. Flashlight: If you're stopped at night and need to find something in the car, you're going to need a flashlight. This free app turns your phone into a flashlight (there are many color options, too), and it could come in handy.

11. Tweetie: If you're a Twitter addict like me, having Twitter on the road is essential for keeping up with the latest news, trends, and memes. Tweetie is not only great for the road because of its easy-to-use interface, but because of its integration with TwitPic, so you can send your friends and family pictures of you on the road. It also has a location feature for nearby tweeters if you're in the mood for an impromptu tweetup.

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Image courtesy of iStockphoto, photomorphic