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Anyone who’s ever been to Manhattan, let alone actually lives there, can tell you that getting around is something of a pain at times. Actually that’s not true. Getting around Manhattan is a nightmare most of the time. Between subway re-routes that aren’t even mentioned in their respective stations to obtuse maps, simply getting from Point A to Point B can require a stop over at Points X, Y, and Z. It gets even worse when you’re in a hurry.

With the ineptitude of the MTA in mind, I’ve compiled a list of apps that should help anyone, resident and tourist alike, find their way around with a bit less hassle.

iTrans NYC Subway
The App Store description claims that this is the “ultimate NYC transit app,” and they aren’t wrong. It’s not perfect because the MTA is rarely “on schedule,” but it’s about as close are you’re going to get. Predicted train arrival times, schedules, maps, location based navigation to nearby subway entrances, step-by-step directions for a planned trip, bus info, and real time train delay info when connected to WiFi will all make getting around beneath the city streets as painless as possible. Provided you don’t get elbowed in the face by one of those dancing panhandlers.

HopStop Transit Directions for iPhone
Now this is the app for serious trip planners. It covers virtually all possible transit routes ranging from cabs to buses to trains and beyond. It can call up schedules, maps (even viewable offline), ETAs, lists several possible routes, and even allows uses to set their preferences to avoid or stick to specific modes of transportation. Heck, it can even save recent searches to be called up later.

NYC Way
What makes this one so notable is that it’s essentially dozens of useful NYC-centric apps in one place. It can call up video from live traffic cams to plan ahead for a road trip. It can call up a bunch of info for various galleries, shopping hotspots, and more. It can search for parking and WiFi. Museums and various tourist attractions are on the list, too. It’s kind of the one-stop shop for any and all information you may need to plan a trip into the city; whether it’s for a few days or a couple of hours.

Central Park
A lot of people don’t realize it until they see it for themselves, but Central Park is big. So big, in fact, that it warrants its own app. This “insider’s guide” covers events (concerts, etc), notable locations to check out (did you know it has its own zoo?), and even helps you find a bathroom. It can guide you wherever you’d like to go using its GPS functions or even let you wander at your own pace while tossing up alerts every time you near a spot you want to check out.

Traveling somewhere without a lot of signal? Running low on data this month but still need to get somewhere? CoPilot GPS might be the answer. The app is free, but maps and full voice navigation must be purchased as an in-app purchase.

Find the best way to navigate to all the places you need to go without relying on your mobile connection. Detailed street maps of an entire country or region are stored on your iPhone or iPad, so you’ll still be able to calculate routes and get driving or walking directions even when there’s no cell coverage. Millions of useful Points of Interest are built into the app, making it easy to locate nearby restaurants, stores, gas stations and more. You can also search for local businesses and attractions using Google™ and Wikipedia.

The TomTom navigation apps updated today with support for iOS 6, the new screen size of the iPhone 5, Apple Maps support, and Google local search features. The upgrade is free for current users, and will run new users $49.95. TomTom apps work on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Waze is more than a navigation app; its developers promise to help us all outsmart traffic together with a combination of social and database-driven technologies. The new update adds even more social features, including collaborative driving directions, live maps, new interface and design, as well as iOS 6 and iPhone 5 support.

Here's a list of all the new features:

✓ See friends driving to your destination & everyone's ETA
✓ Send a pick up request to grab anyone's location & navigate to them
✓ Share your drive by sending a live map of your route & ETA to anyone
✓ New design and UI throughout
✓ Sign in with Facebook
✓ Nearing destination bar
✓ Toll road usage indication
✓ Private messages
✓ Parking location pin
✓ Support for iOS6 and iPhone 5

You can think of Via as voice guided turn by turn navigation, for runners. It's pretty simple -- set your start and end points, then go! It's compatible with the built in Music app so you can listen to music while running -- the voice navigation prompts will guide you over the music. Awesome idea.

With an ever burgeoning selection of Calendar and Travel apps, Time to Enjoy sets out to be different by turning the calendar function into a search engine for events.

Powered by eventful.com and Tribune Media Services, the app provides event details within the US, Canada and Europe, the app allows users to search for local events, all via their current location or by entering a city of their choice. Various categories are searchable such as museum events, local attractions, music focused or family targeted. A search radius of anything from walking distance to a 50 mile car drive means there should be something for a short trip or an all day excursion.

Users can learn various details about upcoming events such as timings and venues, as well as see trailers for movies and even purchase tickets. An alert function ensures nothing is forgotten about.

Time to Enjoy is out now and free to download.

Good news for those who use CoPilot Live, version eight. The developers, ALK Technologies, are offering a big upgrade free of charge to version nine. The new line of CoPilot Live GPS apps for the US and Canada still have access to live navigation, but now with more perks. The biggest addition is voiced turn-by-turn directions, no doubt a response to Apple’s iOS 6 announcement, but there’s more. The new routing features give you three different ways to find where you are going, each with information not only on distance but on mileage and with the year of free live traffic they are offering to new subscribers on their website it’s even better.

The new design is less distracting, with lane assist arrows and what they call “ClearTurn” display. There is also “Tap and Go” navigation which lets you literally just tap on a location on the map to get directions. It even has “social navigation” allowing you to check into Facebook and Twitter with your locale or to search Wikipedia or Bing’s Local Search from within the app. If you upgrade or try V9 for the first time, let us know what you think in the comments.

ALK Technologies, known for its great mobile navigation software, has made a pretty impressive move with their latest app: the navigation app in question is free!

CoPilot GPS uses a freemium style model to ensure it's free. Users can plan their routes without an internet connection and figure out the best turn by turn route, whether they're in a car or walking. Points of interests are installed, as well as the option to find a destination manually.

It's all quite professional and as anyone would expect from a paid for navigational app.

The difference here is that it's completely free. An in-app purchase of $24.99 unlocks voice-guided navigation with the option to also download a real-time traffic service for $9.99 for a 12 month subscription.

It's a wise move as CoPilot GPS is immediately appealing for anyone in need of a navigation app but at a low price. Plus, there's always the option to unlock further features.

It's out now for both iPhone and iPad.

Car2Go, like other "carsharing" services, allows customers to quickly rent small cars for short periods of time. It's great for when cars break down or when one needs an easy way to get around a new city during a vacation. Now, they are making the service even more convenient with the launch of their new aCar2Go app.

Currently, Car2Go operates in the following cities: Hamburg; Ulm; Lyon; Vancouver, British Columbia; Austin, Texas; Portland, Oregon and Washington, D.C. They also have the world's first electric car fleet in San Diego, California. Using the app, anyone living in said cities can find and book the nearest available Car2Go, find gas stations and parking lots, view the operating area and view the route to their car. Soon enough, users will be behind the wheel of one of those familiar, little blue and white Smart Fortwos.

Quick auto access is now just an app away. aCar2Go is available now for $1.99 on the App Store.

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