Navigational applications are getting more smarter - or at least more solicitous - in the routes that they suggest to their users. At the same time, many are beginning to integrate social media elements into the offering as well.

The Route4Me iPhone application, which finds the shortest route for multi-destination trips, is one recent example.

Not There But Here

To get started, users input a departure address and then add multiple destinations. The app then spits out the most time-efficient route to hit each destination, along with map views and turn-by-turn directions. There is also a "Favorites" tab for frequently traveled routes or addresses as well as integration into the iPhone address book, allowing users to grab an address and then map a route to it.

Getting Social

Navigon is another example. A provider of mobile on-board navigation, the device has upgraded its MobileNavigator, which is also an iPhone app.

The update adds three features: in-app Connection to Facebook and Twitter, 3D terrain views, and personalized route delivery. Using the integration to the social networks, users can broadcast their current position, destination and ETA to their social networks without interrupting the navigation. The 3D feature - called Panorama View 3D - depicts the surrounding environment in 3D images rendered from NASA's height and terrain data, including elevations, shadows and geographic images.

The personalized route delivery is powered by Navigon's MyRoutes. It analyzes individual driving data and designs customized routes with up to three choices. The primary recommendation is based on the user's driving habits, the day of week and time of travel.