EVER FOUND YOURSELF in the woods arguing over what species of fir you’re standing under? (Or is it a pine?) Help is on the way, in the form of cell-phone applications that employ a new technology called “augmented reality.” AR uses the latest smartphones’ spatial self-awareness, made possible by three built-in gizmos: GPS, accelerometer (a level meter), and digital compass. These tools allow your phone’s camera to know exactly where it’s looking. And by connecting that picture to the Web, the phone can also identify exactly what it’s looking at聴and then over颅lay the image on your screen with everything from highway names to landmark histories to daily lunch specials. Eventually, phones will also access powerful image-recognition engines on the Web, allowing you, for instance, to point your phone at a mushroom and find out if it’s poisonous. Put simply, AR makes the world clickable. The first AR programs for the iPhone 3GS may hit the iTunes App Store as early as October.

iPhone 3GS compass

iPhone 3GS compass

We also downloaded and tested dozens of currently available iPhone programs. These were the best.

Google Earth

3-D views, pinch/pull navigation, and resolution down to individual cars. Now you can take your God complex with you wherever there’s a cell-phone signal. $0

Topo Maps

Of the handful of GPS-enabled USGS topo apps, this one is the cleanest; it allows you to easily plot your location in UTM, DMS, or lat/long. Download maps for free and use them even when you’re out of cell range. (For laying down GPS tracks, try Trails.) $7

iTrailMap 3D

Track your vert and map your runs, in real time, on a 3-D rendering of any ski resort in America. $5

RiverGuide for Kayakers

Up-to-the-minute USGS flow data for every river you’d want to kayak in the country. $5

Surf

Web cams, tides, and swell data for every major surf spot on earth. $5

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1. A throttle on the paddle lets Baker control the kayak’s speed聴25 or 30 mph as it approaches the lip of the falls.

Jet Kayak Mk2

2. The shell of the kayak is an eight-foot production-model Liquidlogic Jefe Grande.

3. A 50-horsepower motorcycle engine between the kayaker’s legs powers a Yamaha jet ski’s pump and impeller. With so little space in the boat, venting the exhaust is a critical safety issue. “The early version boiled the flesh on the back of my legs,” says Baker.

4. When the kayak makes impact and its air intakes are submerged, compressed-air canisters inside will maintain thrust by supplying the engine with oxygen.

An airfoil will stabilize the craft as it flies. Baker isn’t sure yet whether the kayak will have wings or the kayaker will wear a winged suit.

The biggest danger in kayaking over huge cataracts is the churning at the bottom: endless, powerful recirculation that can suck you under, permanently. But Englishman Shaun Baker, 45, has a high-tech fix for the problem. His new jet-powered waterfall kayak will allow him to fly over the backwash or, if he fails to get clear, speed through it. Baker has notched more than 20 first descents of major falls using gravity alone聴one in the Alps now bears his name聴but in 2003, a friend reminded him that Evel Knievel got a rocket boost for his failed attempt to clear the Snake River Canyon. Baker Spent the next three years building the Jet Kayak Mk1, which can tackle moderate whitewater at up to 45 miles per hour. “The Mk2 jet kayak will have the ability to glide through the air and land 150 feet downstream of the falls,” he says. “And the capability to run underwater, after landing from a drop.” Baker thinks this is the sort of craft you’d need to run Niagara’s 173-foot Horseshoe Falls, but he may first try Thjofafoss, Iceland’s 45-foot, 14,000-cubic-feet-per-second Waterfall of Thieves, so named for the criminals who were flung into it back in the day. He’s still at least one year and $300,000 away from finishing the boat.

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