PS Ventures Limited today announced that their new iPhone app, Real London Tube, is now available to download from Apple’s App Store.

The Real London Tube iPhone app overlays a map of the London Underground on top of Google maps. It shows how the tube map looks correctly drawn to scale whilst maintaining all the detail of Google Maps that iPhone users have come to recognise.
This provides a much clearer view of where stations and lines are in relation to each other and promotes a more efficient use of the London Underground.

As an example, the traditional tube map suggests that the closest Central Line station to Paddington is Notting Hill Gate to the south. In fact Lancaster Gate is only 0.28 miles from Paddington (an 8 minute walk) compared with Notting Hill Gate which is 1 mile to the west of Paddington. This isn’t apparent on the traditional tube map.
The short walk to Lancaster Gate can provide quicker access to central London and will remove the need to change trains to reach the Central Line.
See the video of this example here:

Real London Tube shows users their position on the map and their closest stations (including the distance to each station) to help choose the most efficient method of reaching their destination.
A pin can be dropped on the map to show the closest stations to any location to assist in advance planning
Real London Tube also sets up driving and walking directions between the user’s current location or a dropped pin and a station of their choosing.

PS Ventures Limited director Philip Simpson commented “We’re very excited to be bringing this great new perspective of the London Underground to iPhone and iPod Touch users. Once you see how the map actually looks in real life, your approach to the London Underground will change forever. It really is very surprising”