JNSoftware
ABNavigator icon
Version: 1.0.4
Release Date: January 29, 2007
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.3+ & an Internet connection
Script Type: Run-Only
License: Freeware (Contributions Encouraged)
Installation: Simply copy the ABNavigator application to your hard drive (the Applications folder is a great place). That’s it. To remove it from your system, just delete the application.
Introduction
ABNavigator is an application for easily obtaining driving directions from point A to point B using the information contained in your Address Book. Simply choose a starting point (the “From Address”) and the end point (the “To Address”), the source for the directions (e.g., MapQuest or Google — ABNavigator supports many direction sources), then click “Get Directions” and ABNavigator will retrieve your route. You may manually enter an address and you can easily swap the “From” and “To” addresses to reverse your path.
Using ABNavigator
ABNavigator relies on the addresses contained in your Address Book. The more up-to-date and complete your information is, the better ABNavigator will work. By default, ABNavigator will select the address designated as your “Me” card for the “From Address”. This makes it easy to select an address from the “To Address” column and get directions from your default address to your desired end address. Of course, you may select any “From Address” you’d like. To quickly re-select your “Me” address, click the “Me” button (it’s the button with the silhouetted person icon).
To manually enter an address, either in the “From Address” or “From Address” column — or both, click the “Manual” button above the corresponding column (click the Address Book icon to switch back). In this way you can get directions to addresses that may not be in your Address Book. To swap the “From Address” and “To Address”, click the “Swap” button (it’s the button with the parallel arrows in opposite directions). If you would like to edit an address from your Address Book, you can Control-click on the address to bring up a contextual menu with an edit item that will open that address in your Address Book.
Once you have selected your “From” and “To” addresses, you need to tell ABNavigator which website to use when requesting directions. ABNavigator supports a number of different directions sites including Expedia, Google Maps, MapQuest, Maps.com, MSN Maps & Directions, and Yahoo! Local Maps. This is as basic as choosing the site you want from the directions source drop down menu. Now, the only thing left to do is to press the “Get Directions” button to retrieve your directions.
The buttons on the left side of the main window can be used to control the built-in web browser. The arrow keys will move you forward and back through the history of the pages you’ve loaded. (This history is not retained through relaunches of the application.) The text buttons will increase or decrease the size of the text displayed in the browser. The reload and stop buttons work as expected, and, of course, so does the print button.
There are some known issues in this first release of ABNavigator:
  • Sometimes the swap button will not work correctly if the “From Address” and “To Address” do not belong to same group.
  • The selected addresses and history will not be retained through relaunches of the application.
  • The directions from the supported websites are distinctly US-centric. If you need directions for non-US countries, try the various supported sites to see if any of them offers directions for your country.
If you find ABNavigator helpful, please consider contributing to our web hosting and general development costs. A nominal contribution of $5.00 (US) would be greatly appreciated — though certainly more will not be rejected! Once you contribute, you will receive instructions for removing the contribution message that appears when you quit.
Version History
  • v1.0.4 - Released January 29, 2007
    • Updated to a Universal Binary.

  • v1.0.3 - Released August 3, 2005
    • Added map buttons to map individual addresses as well as mapping directions between two addresses.
    • Minor interface tweaks.

  • v1.0.2 - Released August 2, 2005
    • Fixed an error that prevented using manually entered addresses.

  • v1.0.1 - Released August 2, 2005
    • Fixed an error that prevented ABNavigator from launching on some 10.3.x systems.

  • v1.0 - Released August 2, 2005
    • Initial Public Release.

Please Note: All content (including but not limited to directions) obtained using this application is for informational purposes only and is not an endorsement of any kind, neither of the supported websites nor of the information that they provide. Conversely, this application is not affiliated nor endorsed by any of the websites supported by the application (or their owners or affiliates). Materials displayed from websites linked by this application (and subsequent links) may contain copyright information. You are bound by the terms of service and use that vary from site to site and it is your responsibility to know these terms as posted on the respective websites.