ExploreMetro is delighted to announce that Explore Taipei Metro map for iPhone is now available! This is our sixth iPhone app, as we expand to all the major cities in Asia!

It includes all the features you’ve come to expect from our apps: routeplanning, search, find my nearest station, Google Maps for every station, first/last train times, and English/Chinese support.

This is the first release of the app, so I’d be really happy to hear from you If you have any comments or feedback on how to make the app better!

Download Explore Taipei now!

We passed an exciting milestone: 1 million unique users using our online metro map and iPhone app of the Shanghai Metro! To celebrate, for the next two days you can download Explore Shanghai for iPhone absolutely FREE!

You can get all our latest features, including route-planning with up-to-date times and prices, Google Maps for every station, audio clips of every station name, and “find my nearest station“. Normally the app costs $0.99, but today and tomorrow you can download the app for free. Don’t delay, download it today!

We’ve just released the 2.5 update to all our iPhone metro maps! That’s five new updates for Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Singapore and Hong Kong!

Here’s what’s new!

Google Maps – By popular demand, you can now see a street map for every station. This is really handy if you’re arriving at a metro station and want to see which exit to take, or how to reach your destination. Just tap on any station, then tap Street map (requires a 3G or Wifi internet connection).

New interface – We’ve simplified the interface for browsing stations and planning routes. Just tap any station to see this standard popup. You can switch between Metro map, Street map and Train times (for first/last train times). You can also listen to the name of the station as an audio clip by tapping the station name, or start planning a route.

Easy routeplanning – Planning routes is now even simpler. Tap on the first station, and choose “Plan route”. Then tap on your destination. The route, time and price will be immediately shown. We’ve also updated the Singapore app prices for the new distance-based fares.

Version 2.5 is a FREE update for all existing users. Download our apps today!

We’re delighted to announce that we’ll be launching a new metro map app in the next few weeks for the Taipei Metro. The Taipei Rapid Transit System is a relatively new metro system, having begun operations in 1996. It now has 80 stations on 8 lines.

We’ll be using ExploreMetro’s expertise to provide a great interactive metro online and for iPhone including:

• Clear, bilingual maps (English and Traditional Chinese)
• Fast, accurate route-planning with times and prices
• A native iPhone app with full offline access
• Street maps and first/last train times for every station
• Free updates, starting with the extensions to the Blue and Orange lines opening later in 2010

If you’d like to be notified when ExploreTaipei launches, pre-register at http://taipei.exploremetro.com/

By popular request, we’ll soon be including integrated Google Maps in our iPhone metro map apps for Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Singapore. Just tap on any station and choose “Street map” to see the area around the selected station. You can pan and zoom the map to see more.

If you’ve got any suggestions on this or other features, do get in touch!

Stay tuned for updates to all our apps to support Google maps over the next few weeks.

We recently submitted an update for Explore Shanghai for iPhone but encountered a snag, as we were told:

We’ve completed the review of your application, but are unable to post this version to the App Store because it includes a contest with Apple products as prizes. Apps that include such offerings incorrectly create an association with Apple, Inc.

Hmm. So now when you tell a friend about one of our apps, you can win a iPad Wii! Just tap on the Help tab in the app.

For those of you waiting anxiously for the update, Explore Shanghai 2.3 has been resubmitted (including the new Hongqiao Railway Station and extended times for Line 10) and should be available soon! Download Explore Shanghai now and you’ll receive the free update as soon as it’s approved.

We were listed in Lonely Planet’s “Top 5 China apps“!

3. Explore Metro Maps (US$0.99)
Explore puts out metro maps for Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. They’re easy to use, up to date (no easy feat in Shanghai) and work offline. Very handy, especially when they’ve run out of paper maps at the stations.

Thanks for the mention guys! You can download our iPhone apps here

Wow! When we made Explore Singapore for iPhone free for 1 week, we expected a lot of downloads: what we didn’t expect was we’d become the #1 app in all categories on the Singapore iTunes Store! Check out this screengrab we took:

If you haven’t tried Explore Singapore yet, be sure to download our awesome app before Sunday!

For one week only you can grab a copy of Explore Singapore, our MRT map for iPhone absolutely free! Explore Singapore is fully up to date, including the latest extension to the Circle Line which opened last month. You can search for stations, find the nearest station using your iPhone’s GPS, and plan routes, all using our really simple interface.

Download Explore Singapore from the iTunes App Store today! Our FREE offer ends Sunday June 13th.

Congratulations to Kerstin, who has won this month’s free ticket to the Shanghai World Expo! We’re giving away a free ticket every month to users of our ExploreShanghai metro map for iPhone. We’ll give out another free ticket in June, so check out the competition and download ExploreShanghai for iPhone!